Choices and Aces
by AnonymooseAu
Summary: Alternate Universe. There's more than one ace onboard the SDF1, what if Miriya's eye had been caught by another during that fateful battle?
1. Chapter 1

"_It is said by some that at every decision the universe splits, but as mere mortals we can only experience one path and can only imagine what might have been."_ Dr. Emil Lang, _The Robotech Journals_

* * *

Rick Hunter stared at the ceiling of Macross General Hospital, wondering if he could ever live this humiliation down.

Shot down by friendly fire, and if that wasn't bad enough, Lisa Hayes, his commanding officer had just left after **apologising **to him.

"Ugh!" Rick put his hands to his face and wished he could go back to the crazy hallucinations he'd been having just hours ago.

Peeking through his fingers, Rick thought about Lisa, he couldn't believe she had apologised, it seemed so unlike her. Usually, she couldn't get enough of telling him how many regs he was breaking.

He also wondered about himself, after all, just a few weeks ago he would have paid no small amount to have Lisa Hayes admit she was wrong. Now, though, he just wanted to forget the whole thing.

"Look alive there, solider!" A voice suddenly barked, startling Rick almost to sitting up, and cracking his still sore ribs while he was at it.

"Hey! What's the big – "he began, but stopped when he saw who it was lounging in the doorway.

"Roy! Max! Ben!"

Roy Fokker, easily the tallest man on the huge battle fortress that was their home, had to duck a little as he came into the room, followed by blue haired Max Sterling and the large and loud Ben Dixon.

"What's all this lying around?" Roy continued, swaggering over. "The rest of us have to **work** for our livings."

Rick made a face. "Believe me, Big Brother, I wouldn't be here if I could help it."

Ben Dixon let out one of his trademark guffaws. "Hey, **I'd** be willing to trade places with you, Lieutenant. The nurses here are **babes**."

Roy rolled his eyes then held out something that he'd been holding behind his back.

"What's this?" Rick asked, taking it, it was a white box, like the kind the Hospital gift shop put purchases in.

"Scented soaps of course," Roy drawled, "and toothpaste, since you could use it."

Rick made a face at Roy, but quickly checked his breath by holding his hand over his mouth.

It **was** pretty bad, so he excused himself, not bothering to take Roy's gift with him; the Hospital had perfectly good toothpaste.

When he returned, Ben had switched on the radio and was listening intently.

"They've got a give-away going," he explained to Rick, "three private sessions with Ms. Velvet, you know, the beauty products girl?"

"Aha, your tan is mysteriously explained," Roy remarked from the chair he was sitting on next to Rick's bed.

Ben just grinned. "Hey, believe me, if **I** won, tanning beds or whatever wouldn't be any part of my free sessions."

Rick shook his head as he sat back on the bed.

"So, Boss," Max spoke up in his soft voice, "who was your other visitor?" He gestured to the flowers in a vase on the bedside table.

Rick stifled a groan, trust Max to notice.

"Hey, they look expensive," Ben turned from the radio just as Lynn Minmei, Macross City's own (and only) pop sensation's new song began to play. "Hey! Was it Minmei? You lucky dog, you!"

Rick grimaced, he only **wished** it was Minmei, but as far as he knew Minmei hadn't even **heard** he was laid up.

"_My boyfriend is a pilot, now, he's a piloooot_," Ben sang, horribly off-key.

"Turn it off!" Rick snapped, more sharply than he intended to.

Ben looked shocked, but shut his mouth and flicked the off-switch on the radio.

"It wasn't Minmei," Rick said, in a calmer voice, "it was" – he avoided their eyes "- Commander Hayes."

"No way!" Ben burst out so loudly Rick almost fell off the bed.

"Commander Hayes?" Max repeated. "Well, that was nice of her."

"Yeah," Rick muttered, suddenly wishing his friends would just go away.

"Commander Hayes ain't that bad looking," Ben suddenly remarked, "if she let her hair down once in a while." He laughed at his own joke.

Rick glared.

Roy, who had kept quiet 'til now got to his feet. "Well, as much as we'd love to stay and chat, some of us have duties to attend to." He gave been a silencing look.

Ben didn't get it. "Well, wouldn't you agree, Lieutenant?" He asked Rick. "After all you ki-"

"Yeah, I'd **really** like to take a nap," Rick spoke loudly over Ben, which was quite an effort. No-one but he, Ben, Max and Lisa knew everything that had happened on the Zentraedi ship and Rick wanted to keep it that way.

"I'm just saying you gotta take 'em where you can get 'em, especially-"

"OK, hotshot," Roy put an arm around Ben's shoulders and all but yanked him toward the door, "we get the picture. You rest up now, Little Brother," Roy waggled a finger at Rick. "We can't have you freeloading for too long, can we?"

Rick cracked a small smile.

"Oh, I think we're doing OK-" Ben began, but stopped when Roy squeezed his shoulders a lot tighter.

"Enjoy your gift," Roy continued with a wave, stepping backward out of the room, with Ben in tow.

Rick laughed at the look on Ben's face. "Thanks for coming."

Max followed, but paused at the door. "Ben's not that far off, Boss," he said, thoughtfully, "Commander Hayes is a pretty woman, and nice, too."

Rick almost snorted with laugher. **Nice**? Lisa?

"See ya, Max," was all he said.

Max shrugged. "Aye, aye," he replied, before heading out the door.

* * *

Claudia Grant, Communications Officer onboard the SDF-1 Battle Fortress, cast a sideways look at Lisa, her best friend.

Lisa had been a little late to the Bridge that morning, a fact that was unusual enough in itself, but now she stood at her station, staring blankly out at the blue sky and sea.

_What's with that girl?_ Claudia wondered, a little exasperated, originally she had figured a bad visit with her father, Admiral Donald Hayes, had been behind her friend's mood, but this seemed much more serious.

Claudia looked about, it was all quiet on the Bridge, Sammie, Vanessa and Kim weren't on duty yet and their replacements kept to themselves.

_I think we could chat for a few minutes,_ Claudia decided and walked over to Lisa, touching her on her shoulder.

"Hmm?" Lisa shook her head, as if in a haze and looked up.

"OK, spill," Claudia encouraged, "what's got you so down?"

"What?"

"Oh, please," Claudia rolled he eyes, "**anyone** could tell something's eating you and I'm your best friend, come on now."

Lisa wouldn't meet her eyes. "It's nothing…I'm just…tired…"

"Well, we all are," Claudia acknowledged, "but that's **not** what's bothering you, come on, you can trust me."

Lisa heaved a sigh. "Claudia, do you ever wonder if the military is the right place for you?"

"**What**?!"

"Because sometimes I think…" Lisa trailed off.

With a flash of insight, Claudia remembered the events of the battle against the Zentraedi a few days earlier, the Daedeleus Manoeuvre had been a success, but one of the RDF's pilots had been hit…Roy's friend…

"Where did you go this morning, Lisa?"

Lisa did not speak, but her shoulders slumped.

"It was Lieutenant Hunter, wasn't it?" Claudia prodded.

All of Claudia's knowledge of Rick Hunter came from Roy and from various tit for tats between him and Lisa over the comm. net during battles.

"Well, he's all right isn't he?"

"He's fine," Lisa murmured.

"That's good then," Claudia patted her arm, "so why are you so down? He didn't **blame** you for what happened, did he?"

"No."

"Well then, it couldn't be as bad as all that," Claudia eyed her friend closely.

"You're wrong," Lisa declared, looking up at Claudia for the first time and there was something in her eyes…

Claudia knew that the situation was rather serious, but she couldn't help but declare. "And now the stroke of Cupid's arrow strikes home!"

"**What**?!"

Claudia had her hands held to her chest and she smiled at Lisa. "Well, it's been coming a long time, I mean, after all you've been through together."

"What are you saying?"

"You're in love with Lieutenant Hunter, of course!" Claudia continued, marvelling at Lisa's naiveté in matters of the heart.

Lisa shook her head. "That's ridiculous!"

Claudia shrugged. "Well, love doesn't almost make sense – in fact it hardly **ever** does."

Lisa looked like she was about to make further denials, but instead blurted. "What should I do, Claudia?"

"Well, first of all, you can relax, let your hair down and smile more often!"

"Oooh," Lisa moaned, clapping a hand to her forehead. "If only it was that easy-"

"Well, you can only do your best, but you can at least **try**."

Lisa was about to say something, doubtless more objections, when a shadow fell across them.

"Claudia, Lisa."

"Captain Gloval, sir!" The two women turned and saluted.

"At ease," the moustached man told them in his gravelly voice.

They dropped their arms.

"Now, I could use you two to begin coordinating the distribution of supplies once they arrive here on the ship, the Council is not giving us much time to unload them."

"Certainly, sir," Claudia spoke when Lisa stayed silent, "we were just discussing…combat manoeuvres.

"Hmm, I see," Gloval raised his eyebrows, not looking as if he believed it, but choosing to say no more.

As she returned to her station Claudia continued to wonder about Lisa and her flyboy and made a vow that she'd do whatever she could to help her dear friend.

* * *

For once Khyron, leader of the elite 17th Mechanised Division of the Botoru Battalion wished that male and female Zentraedi were not segregated so he could strangle the female on the other side of the comm screen.

"You will desist in this mockery!" He snarled, instead, shaking his purple fist. "I am your superior!"

The female tossed her green hair back from her shoulders with a laugh. "In rank, perhaps, but certainly not in ability."

Khyron actually shook with anger. "I **warn** you," he threatened.

"I am not cowered by your threats, after all, who made a fool of himself in the last combat and lost a command vessel? You are the laughing stock of the fleet."

"**Am** I now?" Khyron made a note of this, woe to any Zentraedi he discovered laughing behind his back…

But now to deal with this one.

"Your arrogance will be your downfall," he warned, "because you have never been truly challenged you believe you are something special. But be warned, Miriya, there is one aboard the Micronian vessel that even **you** cannot best."

To Khyron's delight Miriya took the bait, if anything she looked even more arrogant as she lifted her chin and met his eyes squarely.

"So! A Micronian ace on the battle fortress…" she mused. "I'd like to meet him!"

Khyron smirked and even the fact that Miriya snapped off her comm screen without a salute did not bother him, for he was certain it would be the last time she disrespected him.

* * *

The coffee shop _Variations_ was quiet that day to Claudia's relief, since she was out of breath from running there, having only an hour break in her duty.

"Hey, there," Roy said by way of greeting, "I decided not to risk ordering for you...after what happened last time.

"Well, all you need to remember is to ask for only one shot," she reminded him.

"I'll try to keep that in mind," Roy promised with a wink.

Claudia smiled at him and for a moment they just looked at each other. It had been a long trip back to Earth and an exhausting one. Claudia could count the number of times they'd spent a good amount of time together on the fingers of one hand. She could only hope that now they were back on Earth things would be better, although it was hard to imagine so when the Brass were being such fools.

"So, what do I owe the pleasure of this lightning meeting?" Claudia asked after a moment. "Business or leisure?"

Roy smiled a rakish grin, "A little from column 'A' and a little from column 'B'."

Claudia arched an eyebrow. "I hope you won't make me guess, time is tight."

Roy pouted a little, but brushing back a lock of hair said. "I know you Bridge Girls have your finger on the pulse of **everything** in this ship, so I have to ask if you have any idea where Miss Minmei is these days."

Claudia titled her head. "For business reasons, of course?" She asked a little challengingly.

Roy took one of her hands in his. "Do you have to ask?"

Claudia grinned, slightly embarrassed, but then Roy had always liked to flirt. "Well, then, I can tell you that Miss Macross is at the eastern corner of Macross Park, filming for her movie. You'll find her on the set every day."

Although Claudia wondered briefly why Roy wanted to speak to Minmei, she didn't dwell on it…she had only twenty minutes to get back her station.

"Now, do you think we could get onto the personal stuff?"

"Hmmm," Roy leaned close, "how personal do y' wanna get, Lieutenant Grant?"

"How 'bout dinner at my place?" She suggested in a low voice.

Roy grinned broadly at her. "Promise me you'll make your famous pineapple salad and it's a date."

"Your wish is my command," Claudia told him.

"OK, then, dinner it is, seven o'clock okay?" Roy was getting to his feet still holding her hand.

"If you can be on time for once."

"Hey, I try," Roy made a show of looking hurt, then he squeezed her hand. "See you in the general vicinity of seven o'clock then."

With a wave he was off.

Reaching across the table Claudia picked up Roy's still steaming coffee wondering if she should risk a sip and leaned back in her chair, taking a moment to bask in her happiness. _Sure, Commander Fokker_, she thought, _dinner tonight and perhaps…breakfast, too._

* * *

Roy didn't get out much in Macross City, being the CAG gave him less time off duty than just about anyone else on the ship except the medical teams. But the city still had the same layout as it had back on Macross Island, so he found his way to the park easily enough.

As Claudia had said in the eastern section roadblocks were up, stage lights and sets assembled and dozens of people milling about.

As a military officer, Roy was able to park a lot closer than any normal civilian could and soon he was walking towards the cameras and the crowd.

There was shouting and demands all around and frankly the chaos made Roy wonder how they got anything done.

"Ugh! Cut! **Cut**! What are you people doing?! This is an **action** movie! You're moving like it's an art house production!"

Roy watched the sunglassed man holding a megaphone shouting at a small group of people dressed in tunics.

"We're **dancers**!" One of them complained. "Not martial artists!"

"Well, that's what you're gettin' paid for, so shut up and do it as directed!" Mr. Megaphone snarled.

"Nice fellow," Roy muttered to himself, looking about for Minmei, she shouldn't be too hard to spot…

"Commander Fokker!"

Roy turned with a smile. "Well, hey, if it isn't the woman of the hour…or the year more like it."

Minmei ran down the steps of a fabricated Chinese Temple to meet him.

"Oh you," Minmei giggled, "this movie has plenty of good people in it."

"But you're the star."

"Can you believe it?"

"Why not?" Roy shrugged. "You're talented."

"Oh, thank you!" Minmei smiled, then looked about. "So where's Rick?"

Remembering the last time he had to break bad news about Rick to Minmei, Roy didn't want to make a scene, so he put his hand on her shoulder and steered her a few feet away from the set.

"Rick's not currently mobile," he began, and catching the look on Minmei's face, hastened to add. "He'll be just fine, but he's at Macross General, he took a bit of a hit a couple of days ago."

"Oh no! Poor Rick!"

"Well, like I said, he'll be up and about soon enough, but in the meantime he's languishing away in that hospital room…I'm sure he'd appreciate seeing you."

Minmei looked about for a moment…obviously this movie was very important to her and was been filmed at breakneck speed, but this was Rick.

"Of course, Commander! I'd love to see him."

"Great, he's in room 401, I'm sure you won't need a pass being-"

"Minmei!" A voice cut Roy off and he turned around to see a man with long dark hair storming their way.

"Oh hi, Kyle!" Minmei waved to him, seeming not to notice the angry look on his face. "Do you know Commander Roy Fokker?"

Kyle glared up at Roy as if he was insulted by the mere presence of him. "Commander," he said curtly.

"Hey," Roy nodded, just as shortly. He'd heard all about Kyle, the self-proclaimed pacifist who didn't mind delivering black belt karate when it suited.

"So what are you doing here?" Kyle demanded, taking Minmei's arm.

"Roy came to tell me about Rick, Kyle, you remember him? He's in the hospital and I have to visit him."

"**Now**?" Kyle demanded.

"Well, as soon as possible. We better go talk to Vance, I'm sure he can spare me for an afternoon."

Kyle looked like he wanted to object, but he couldn't think of a tactful way to do so.

Minmei turned back to Roy. "It was so nice of you to visit, will you come by again?"

Roy couldn't think of anything he felt less like doing, but he didn't say so. "I'll do my best, but right now duty calls."

Minmei nodded. "Good luck! Goodbye, Commander Fokker," she waved to him.

"Later," he waved back and headed back to his jeep as fast as he could.

No sooner had he stuck his key in the ignition then the communication console started beeping.

"Fokker," he answered pressing the screen.

Lisa's face appeared. "Commander Fokker, radar reports that a group of enemy fighters are entering Earth's orbit. They'll make contact in ten minutes, I'm scrambling the Vermillion Team."

Flooring the accelerator Roy made a quick turn and headed for Prometheus. "Roger, I'll lead 'em seeing as Rick is out, I wouldn't want anything to happen to his men. Keep the Skulls ready in case we need back up."

"Roger that," Lisa said, though her voice seemed slightly strained, which struck Roy as unusual, but he didn't have time to wonder about it. It was time to focus on one thing…the battle ahead.

* * *

"Vermillion Squadron, you will engage the enemy in sector 9-A and will keep them as far away from the ship as possible," Lisa relayed the orders almost automatically. She shook herself though, she had to concentrate properly, these pilots depended on her.

"Roger," Max Sterling affirmed

"Aye, aye, Commander," Ben added.

With that the two were propelled off the _Daedeleus_ and into the air.

"Vermillion team clear. Skull Leader, are you ready?"

"Roger."

Claudia looked up suddenly from her station. "Skull Leader - what?"

Lisa looked over, shocked as Claudia left her station and came right over to look at the information on Lisa's console screen. "Is **Roy** leading that intercept flight?!"

"He's covering for Lieutenant Hunter," Lisa murmured.

Claudia's expression was something between anger and fear, and didn't seem to be able to speak.

"Skull Leader airborne," Roy's voice crackled through the speakers. "We're heading for the intercept point."

"Roger," Lisa turned back to her console, "good hunting."

"I'd rather be hunting for a pineapple salad," came the reply.

"What?!" Lisa started, confused.

"What was that?" Captain Gloval asked from his command chair.

"Sir, it sounded like Commander Fokker wants to hunt for a pineapple salad." Lisa told him shaking her head…_What on earth_?

She noticed Claudia laughing behind her hand, but there was no chance to ask what was so funny because Vanessa reported from the threat board.

"It's a squadron of enemy battle suits."

Captain Gloval looked pensive. "Lisa, we better order out the rest of the Skulls, one battle suit wrecked havoc last battle, a squadron of them are going to be tough."

"Yes, sir," Lisa nodded and turning to her console and passed on the instructions to Captain Kramer.

_Good luck_, Lisa thought as she watched the Skull Squadron heading into the air.

* * *

At the head of the Quadrono squadron Miriya observed her radar screen, certain that the pilot she was looking for was among the dots headed their way.

"I am looking for one particular pilot," she spoke to her squadmates. "When I find him you will withdraw and cover me, understood."

"Yes, First Officer Miriya," her second in command answered.

By this time the micronians mecha were clearly in sight, Miriya smiled viciously.

"Very well, attack!" She ordered.

* * *

"All right, boys, this is gonna be a tough one," Roy warned the men as the squadron of alien battle suits dived to intercept them. "Attack!"

Their enemy had the same idea soon there were plasma shots and missiles flying.

The missiles were the deadliest weapon of the battle suits, two huge protrusions on either side of the mecha's body served as a launcher for dozens of them that arched and looped through the air.

But Roy had spent more years flying aerobatics than fighter pilot techniques, and he flew arches and loops of his own that got him through the path of the missiles and with a shot from the Veritech's gun took out the battle suit that had fired them.

"Scratch one," he murmured to himself.

He pulled another tight turn in time to blow another battle suit out of the air and dodge yet more missiles.

It gave him no small amount of satisfaction to fly circles around these guys, one of these suits had taken out five of his men back in space, but now, he knew what he was fighting against….and that made all the difference.

Miriya watched from above, looking for the pilot Khyron spoke of. All of the micronians were good pilots Miriya had to admit, the proof was in the fact that they hadn't all been blown from the sky the second the Quadronos showed up. She was almost impressed.

And then she saw him, the one that Khyron must have spoken of, he flew like none other in the squadron.

Miriya narrowed her eyes and tightened her hands around her controls.

"Now you die!" She cried as she dived, plasma cannons blazing.


	2. Chapter 2

"_People always talk about wanting to meet their equal…let's just hope they specify that it's __**not**__ at the wrong end of a fight."_ Anonymous quote during _The Global Civil War_

* * *

It came out of nowhere and Roy was almost taken out.

But by some miracle he dodged the rain of plasma fire and looked up to see one of the suits coming right from his twelve.

"So, you want a piece of me?" Roy asked, throwing Skull One's engines into full power and rocketing up towards the enemy. "Let's just see if you can take it."

The battle suit though was not confused by his tactics like every other opponent he'd ever had. Rather than falter at the fact that Roy was coming right up at him, he continued the dive.

It was tough dodging the blasts, but Roy managed to get a fix on the bogey and fired two of his missiles at close range.

He could barely believe his eyes as the battle suit…somehow…some way flipped and twisted and then set off a volley of his own.

There were definitely more missiles in its salvo, but they were less maneuverable. Looping, Roy sped down towards the ocean performing moves that confused and caused many of the missiles to hit each other. The ones that remained shot into the ocean as Roy pulled up sharply back towards the battle suit that was still coming at him.

"This guy doesn't give up," Roy muttered, and realized that he and the enemy where moving further away from the main fight, but there was no time to worry about his men. The battle suit was all ready coming for another pass and it was a lot faster than the veritech was.

* * *

Miriya had not expected this…Khyron had claimed the pilot was an ace, but that was only to **him** and Miriya knew that her skills were far superior. But this micronian…with the white skull blazing from the black tail fins of his mecha had avoided all of her assaults. This had never happened to her before!

Now, though she had him, he was trying to escape, but she would overtake him, she would smite him-

Suddenly without warning the mecha changed, transformed, its jets swung down like legs and suddenly the micronian was flying backwards, beneath her and the next thing she knew she was been fired upon.

"Ugh!" Miriya stopped and turned so sharply she was thrown forward in her seat and almost collided with the face plate.

"You devil," she grated as she faced him and brought her plasma cannons to bear on him.

But he was gone once again, streaking up into the sky, his mecha back to its fighter state.

"I will not be surprised again," Miriya hissed to herself as she chased after him. The micronians mecha had three modes; so far she had seen two and she knew what the third one was…It would not save him.

They flew high, through the clouds to the upper reaches of the micronians planet's atmosphere and smiling again Miriya got a lock on the micronian…another salvo of missiles would finish him, he couldn't be so lucky twice…

* * *

"Lisa, what's happening? Why aren't we getting reports?" Gloval asked, standing up.

"The fighting's very heavy, sir," Lisa replied as he came up behind her, "I don't think they can afford to report in."

"What about Fokker?" Gloval was concerned, if Roy could be relied upon for anything, it was reporting the situation, but he had not been heard from in more than five minutes.

"He seems to be engaged with a particularly difficult battle suit," Lisa told him.

"This is odd…" Gloval murmured moving past Lisa to look out across the sea; some distance away he could see the explosion from the battle. "Every time the aliens have come into contact with us they have come for the ship that is what they're here for after all. But these ones…they have made no move towards us whatsoever." Gloval wished he had his pipe on hand, but he had long since given up on taking it to the Bridge since Sammie was guaranteed to stop him if he tried to light up.

"Perhaps it's a trick?" Lisa suggested.

"I'm not picking up any other activity," Vanessa called, "the enemy fleet is still holding orbit."

"This is Max Sterling," a voice suddenly crackled through the speakers. "We're having a hard time with these guys; it looks like they're just here to fight with **us**."

"Lieutenant Sterling, we copy," Lisa responded quickly, "have you taken heavy causalities?" Gloval saw her sneak a look at Claudia, who was been unusually silent.

"Not too bad, Commander Fokker seems to be taking on their leader…he's a good one, and with the rest of them swarming over us we can't assist."

"Roger," Lisa replied, then looked up. "Is there any way we can assist, sir?"

"Not from this distance…" Gloval shook his head. "It would be too risky…we could send out more squadrons, but…"

He didn't finish, but the meaning was clear, they could not afford to risk a larger part of their force, even if it was the Skull Squadron that was in danger.

* * *

Rick had opened the gift box Roy had brought and had been delighted by what was inside.

It was Roy's prize collection of model WWI fighter planes, particularly the Fokker designs.

Roy and Rick both had the same favourite, a model Fokker D3, the plane that Roy had flown the first time he had been in Pop Hunter's Flying Circus. Even though Rick had only been about four years old at the time he could still remember sitting beside his father in the announcers tower watching with amazement as his big brother flew aerobatics that were almost unimaginable. From that moment Rick had vowed that he would be just like Roy when he grew up, or at least he'd try to.

Now, holding the fuselage of the model between his thumb and forefinger, Rick flew it around imagining that he was back at the Circus, instead of in this hospital fighting a war.

_How'd I even end up here_? He asked himself, not for the first time.

He was suddenly startled by a knock on the door and turning, he almost dropped the plane in surprise.

Minmei was standing there.

"Hi, Rick," she smiled.

"Minmei! You…how did you know?"

"Commander Fokker told me," Minmei said, coming over to stand by the bed. "I had to come see you, I'm so glad you're OK."

Rick's heart was almost bursting with joy; he had given up on the idea of Minmei coming by. _Thank you, Big Brother._

"Yeah, just a bruised ego," he replied, putting the plane on the bedside table, next to the opened gift box.

"Oh, Rick," Minmei sat down in the chair beside the bed, "you're still a hero."

"Well, thanks…" Rick felt himself blushing, then cleared his throat. "So…uh…you're making a movie, I hear."

"Yes, it's **so** exhausting, Rick!" Minmei shook her head. "It's lots of fun sometimes, but other times…I'm just saying the same lines again and again. And we work for almost ten hours a **day**!"

Rick could have said that for fighter pilots working ten hours a day would be a blessing, but decided not to.

"When's it coming out?" He asked instead. "I want a front row seat."

Minmei giggled. "You're so sweet, and don't worry, of course you will be, I'll make sure of it! But I'm not too sure when the movie comes out, it's been put together very quickly, but there's no set date yet."

"Well, I'll be waiting," Rick promised.

Minmei smiled at him, but then her mouth opened wide in a yawn, she covered her mouth. "Oh, sorry, I've been working so hard…"

"Hey, it's fine," Rick assured her, watching as she blinked her eyes tiredly. "You know, you can take a nap if you want, I've been lying in this bed way too long anyway, so…" He shifted over and swung his legs over the side.

"Really, Rick? Well…maybe for just a minute…" Minmei didn't even bother to get up from the chair, instead she just leaned over the bed and within seconds was fast asleep and it didn't look like she'd be waking any time soon.

"Oh well," Rick murmured to himself. "She's beautiful when she's sleeping."

* * *

Roy was sweating; it had been a long time since he'd had such a hard fight. This pilot was incredible, nothing seemed to stop him.

And now the battle suit set off another volley of those missiles and Roy wondered if he was going to live through this. With maximum thrust he did a hard-over and the veritech almost screamed with the G-forces.

"How about we see how **you** like it," Roy narrowed his eyes, flying evasive maneuvers the missiles on his tail managing to end up behind the battle suit with the missiles on his heels.

Switching to Guardian mode Roy flipped upside down and rocketed away leaving the missiles to go for their new target, the very mecha that had fired them.

Roy was sure that any other pilot would have tuned out at that moment, but not this one, with a series of moves that almost defied the laws of nature the battle suit twisted around plasma cannons blazing to take out its own salvo.

"Well, I guess I should thank him for that," Roy grunted, trying to bring the fight back to where the rest of his men were. Fighting one on one with this guy was becoming impossible…he was gonna need back up.

* * *

Miriya had bit her lip so hard that it was bleeding and she was almost trembling with rage and…something else.

She couldn't believe the micronian's audacity, to try and take her out with her own ammunition! And to think he had almost succeeded! And now…

"Trying to get back to your squadron? I have you running scared, do I?" She cried, with rather less confidence than normal. For a brief moment she thought of calling her squadron to bear on this ace, he could not fight them all.

But no! She would beat him herself as she had beaten ever enemy she'd ever encountered. She was out of missiles, but her plasma cannons could do the job just as well.

She streaked after him coming up from his six and turning to loose a volley upon him.

But he once again went into that second mode, changing direction instantly and dodging the fire. The gun pod now in the hands in the mecha, aimed at her and blazing away.

The shots hit home…the right leg of her mecha sheered off, disappearing down into the depths of the ocean below.

"**NO!**" Miriya screamed, it would not happen like this! She fired and got her own back, her shots took off the arm of the micronian's mecha, the arm that held the gun pod.

"It will end; you were a fine opponent, micronian!" She hollered, a smile curving her lips again.

* * *

The alarms were ringing in Roy's ears, his gauges telling him that he was running low on ammo…what ammo he had left anyway. The Skull One's four lasers would only last for another minute or so…but he still had two missiles left.

_Time to make these suckers count_, Roy thought, because if he didn't it looked like what he had always feared most would happen…_I love you, Claudia_.

It was one last desperate salvo; the two had been ducking and weaving around each other, trying to get the upper hand…

The missiles flew across the sky heading straight for the battle suit, heading for the face plate….

"Come on," Roy egged them on, "come **on**."

But the battle suit, now moving slower, its aerodynamics affected by the loss of a leg, still moved fast enough to evade the missiles, shooting them from the sky.

And now, it was up to his lasers, and he was out of range…and once he **was** in range, the battle suit would be able to fire just as well at him.

* * *

The micronian was brave that much was obvious; she had not expected him to be keeping missiles in reserve, but now this time…

She aimed and pressed the trigger…

There was nothing, but an empty sounding click.

Furiously, Miriya pressed faster, but it was clear…her plasma cannons were depleted…

Her eyes widened and for the first time she felt…fear, horrible fear. She was trapped…

Miriya Parina, Ace of the Zentraedi Fleet, Leader of the peerless Quadronos had been defeated.

_Mexican standoff_, was all Roy could think, he was still in Guardian mode and his opponent hovered only a few hundred feet away, its arms and plasma cannons pointed, but nothing was happening.

In firing his missiles, Roy had depleted the time left on his lasers, they were both out of ammunition, Roy guessed. _And now what_?

A kamikaze? Or perhaps the rest of the alien's squadron would come and finish him off.

_So this is how it ends_…

* * *

The rest of Miriya's Quadronos and the Vermillion and Skull Squadrons still fought their battle.

Max was in the zone he was always in during combat. He had converted into Battloid mode and was blasting away at the battle suits even as they did all they could to avoid him.

He took care of one that was coming up on Ben's tail and looked about for Commander Fokker, who had disappeared from sight along with one of the battle suits, one that contained an ace alien pilot at least that's what Max gathered from the few seconds he had seen it in action.

Max had found himself the defacto leader of the squad, Captain Kramer had gone down in a blaze and ditched. He wasn't used to it and hoped he hadn't made any poor decisions.

"Hey, Max, thanks," Ben told him over the tac-net, his face appearing on the screen in the corner of Max's control panel. "What the Hell are these guys doin'? They're not attacking the SDF-1 or nothin'."

"Tell me about it," Max darted out of the range of a missile salvo. "If you ask me it looks like it was some sort of raid so their leader could take out Commander Fokker for some reason."

"Pft, good luck," Ben muttered, "the Commander will kick his ass easily."

Max wasn't so sure about that, from the flashes of light he had seen from where Fokker and the alien had been fighting he didn't think it would be a cake walk… in fact he couldn't even say if Fokker would return.

* * *

Miriya didn't know how long she had hovered there, facing the micronian.

The only way to defeat him, she knew, was to sacrifice her own life…or call for back up from her squadron.

And her pride would not let her do the latter.

Her hand hovered over the controls, for a spilt second she was prepared to do it…it would be her end but she would not have the dishonour of been defeated.

But her resolve wavered, and she pressed a button on her communication console instead. "All units, retreat, repeat, all units…" her voice caught for a moment. "Retreat."

And with one last look at the mecha of the micronian who had shamed her, she darted into the sky as fast as her damaged mecha could take her.

* * *

"Captain! The alien battle suits are retreating!" Vanessa cried over her shoulder.

Claudia normally would have felt relief at this point, but Roy had not communicated from the bridge in thirty minutes, thirty long minutes and her heart pounded now with fear.

"Skull Leader," Lisa voice suddenly called, "Skull Leader do you copy, over?"

And then…

"This is Skull Leader reporting," Roy's voice sounded tense, almost shaky. "The enemy is retreating…"

"Roger that, all veritechs can now return to Prometheus."

"Aye, aye."

Claudia's shoulders slumped, the tension draining from her, although she still worried, Roy was never so quiet after a mission…she prayed that he was all right.

* * *

As Roy returned Skull One into its bay and the technicians came over, Roy pushed open the canopy.

"'Fraid I busted this bird up a bit," he told them. "Lost an arm and the gun pod."

One of the techs looked surprised; the other cracked a small smile. "Well, it happens to all of us, Commander."

Normally Roy probably would have had a snappy comeback, but he was too shaken by the events of the battle too.

Climbing out of Skull One he was relieved to be on solid ground again and was quickly intercepted by Ben and Max.

"Good to see you guys got through it OK." He greeted them.

"Nothing to worry about," Ben boasted, "those guys didn't know what hit them."

"Yeah," muttered Roy.

"Did you get their leader, Commander?"

Roy shook his head.

"No way! How'd you let 'im get away?" Ben demanded.

"Uh, Ben," Max said quietly.

Roy barely heard Ben, he was still distracted by the battle, he had always had his fears of combat flying, but at the same time they had never really been realised… No opponent he had come up against had really tested his limits, there had been some close calls…but today he had looked death in the face.

"It was odd sortie wasn't it?" Max was saying, "like you said, Ben, it was pretty strange how they only fought with **us **instead of going for the SDF-1 like they always do. Do you think it's a new tactic, Commander?"

Roy could only shrug. He couldn't think of any reason for a sortie like that except to fulfill that alien pilot's ego.

_What a thing to do_, Roy thought, shaking his head. _Those aliens are damn crazy_.

* * *

Back on her ship, Miriya climbed from her damaged mecha with shaking legs.

She felt sick as she looked up at her Quaedluun-Rau, which had served her so well in countless battles that had never been damaged with any more than a few burns. Now…now it was irreparable. She, Miriya Parina would have to beg for a new mecha, like some sort of…

She spoke to none of her squadron as she ran from the launch bay.

In her quarters she raised a trembling hand to her face…it was wet, but not with sweat…something seemed to be coming from her eyes…she did not know what…

But she didn't care…something was beginning to replace her fear…rage, a white burning hot hatred at the micronian who had refused to die before here as the countless others she'd face.

"He will pay for this!" Miriya suddenly swung her fist and hit the door in front of her. "I will hunt him down! I will defeat him with my own hands and he will beg for mercy before I am done. So, I vow!"

* * *

Rick had ended up falling asleep himself and was started awake, by a loud grating voice.

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you! We have a movie to shoot don't you know? You might be the star, but **I'm** the director, capish?"

Blinking Rick turned to the door to see a man storming across the room, for some reason he wore sunglasses inside.

Minmei was blinking too, slowing rising. "What?"

"Come on," the man took hold of her arm, "let's get going."

"Hey!" Rick found his voice. "What are you doing? Who are you?"

The man looked up at him. "What's it to you?"

"You can't just come in here and boss Minmei around like this, that's what it is to me."

"I'm Vance Hasslewood, director of Minmei's movie…and we're running seriously behind schedule right now." The man snarled, tugging on Minmei's arm.

"Well, good for you," Rick snapped, "can't you see she's exhausted? If you don't let go of her, I'll make you."

Hasslewood paled visibly, but then Minmei spoke.

"No, no, it's all right, Rick, I did promise that I'd only be an hour..."She pulled her arm from Hasslewood's grasp. "I'm coming," she went over and gave Rick a quick hug. "You get well soon now, I'll be seeing you."

But as Minmei left, Hasslewood trailing behind her, Rick wondered when that would be.


	3. Chapter 3

"_You know what? You can take your gifts and your bravado and shove it! Find some other poor foolish girl to go out with you, because I won't be!"_ Remark attributed to Cadet Claudia Grant to Lt. (j.g) Roy Fokker while both were stationed at _Jackson Air Base, Wyoming_

* * *

Claudia worked on the pineapple salad as she waited for Roy to arrive, but her mind was not on it, she was instead trying to calm herself down, so she wouldn't start yelling at her fiancé the moment he walked in.

But in all honesty, Claudia wasn't sure if he didn't deserve it! It was bad enough that as leader of the Skull Squadron, Roy threw himself into the line of fire more than any other pilot on the ship. To think he would actually **volunteer **to go on a mission was beyond belief!

Claudia took a bite of pineapple as she thought about what she could possibly say that wouldn't sound completely unfair.

"Where are you, anyway, Commander Fokker?" She muttered to herself, checking her watch, it was only five minutes past seven, which wouldn't really count as late in Roy Fokker's book, but she worried.

_What if he's been hurt…what if he's_-

Fortunately, she never had to finish that thought because at that moment there was a knock on the door of her quarters.

Wiping her hands on a tea towel, Claudia hurried over and pulled the door open before Roy could open the door with his key.

"Hey, Claudia," Roy gave her a smile.

"Hey, Claudia, **indeed**!" Claudia spluttered.

"Uh, what?" Roy looked so confused, she almost felt bad for him, she took his arm and pulled him inside.

"You know…"Claudia began, then paused, wondering if this really was the worst time, but she was never one to keep her mouth shut about things, so she went on. "I had no idea you had appointed yourself as Rick's replacement, I could hardly believe it when I heard you out there."

"Well…" Roy ran a hand through his blond hair, which was even more unruly than usual. "They **are** Rick's men, his friends; I wouldn't want them going into a sortie with just anybody at the helm."

"Well, that would have been fine if they were **Coast Guards**, but they're not! Why do you always put yourself in danger like that?"

"It comes with the job," Roy shrugged, and flopped down on her couch, "what can you do? I didn't join the RDF because of the quiet serenity it offered."

Claudia suppressed an urge to laugh; she knew if she did they'd never get to the bottom of this.

She decided she would be better off if she continued making the pineapple salad, so she returned to the small kitchenette.

Roy had picked up his guitar, which he had left there and began to strum a tune.

"Look, Roy, it's just that I don't think you appreciate how scared I get when you go out there. You pilots act like its some wonderful game you're playing every time you go out in your veritechs."

The strumming stopped. "It's never been a game, Claudia," she heard Roy say, almost too softly for her to hear. "I hope one day you understand that."

Claudia felt a stab of guilt…she **did** know that, after all, Roy had told her many things, his deepest fears…But still he hardly acted like a man who understood the gravity of combat situations.

"Kramer tuned out today," Roy said, suddenly.

"What?" Claudia almost knocked the salad bowl off the counter as she turned to face him.

Roy was staring straight ahead, and had begun strumming the guitar softly again.

"Captain Kramer," Claudia repeated, "he…he died out there?"

Roy heaved a sigh. "Yeah."

Claudia felt horrible and a whole lot more guilty that she had been so glad Roy was all right, she hadn't stopped to considered the men who hadn't returned.

And Captain Kramer…Claudia hadn't exactly been best friends with the guy, a rather crusty old veteran of not only the Global Civil War, but the Gulf War that had proceeded it. Kramer had always been by the book; in fact sometimes he even made Lisa seem laid back! Initially he and Roy hadn't got on at all, but they had grown to respect each other and Claudia knew that Roy was a lot more upset by his death than he showed.

"I'm sorry," was all she could think to say, as she added the last pieces of pineapple to the salad. "But you understand how I feel, don't you? I know you care about your men and their safety, but I care about **yours**."

"I know," Roy replied in a louder voice, "and I am sorry to scare you like that. But, I can be just as afraid for you, I mean, it's not exactly a safe haven up there on the bridge either."

"It's not really the same," Claudia objected.

"Fear is fear."

Claudia decided to drop the subject, after all, time together wasn't something they had often and she didn't want to ruin it with an argument.

Roy had started playing the guitar again and Claudia turned with the completed salad in her hands. "Voila!"

Roy looked up from his playing, seeming surprised that she wasn't going to continue the discussion.

"Well, come on, were you raised in a barn? Normal people eat at a table you know."

Roy ginned as he got to his feet. "Actually, funny you should mention a barn..."

"Oh, just get over here, you," she scolded him, putting the salad down.

He gave her a mock salute. "Yes, ma'am!"

* * *

Lisa paced restlessly in her quarters, wondering and worrying.

She walked to a table at one end of the room, where a photograph stood; she picked it up and stared.

"Oh, Karl," she murmured, tracing the outline of his face with her finger. "I promised I'd love you forever, but…"

She didn't finish the sentence, instead, she put the photo down, and paced to the other end of the room, where the phone was, beside it, a piece of paper on which was written a phone number and a room number.

Rick's phone and room number.

Lisa picked up the phone, her fingers hovering over the keypad.

"I can't call him, what am I going to say? It's not like we can go out to dinner…" She shook her head, and slammed the phone down.

She reached out for the receiver again, planning to call Claudia, but remembering Roy's strange pineapple salad comment, realized that they probably had a date.

"Some of us should be so lucky," she muttered to herself, turning her back on the phone.

"This is why I always put my career first," she said to the room, "emotions are overrated."

The room had no answer however.

Hoping to distract herself, Lisa went to her bookshelves.

She had planned on taking something thick and fictional from the shelf, but instead her hand landed on something else.

An old photo album.

"I don't know why I kept this," Lisa muttered to herself, but nevertheless took it from the shelf and went to sit on her couch, opening the book on her lap.

The first page was a family photo, taken during happier times, Lisa, her father and her mother – looking pale and ghostly even then.

But they were all so happy, so what did it matter?

Lisa sighed, going through the album, as the photos went on the happiness diminished more and more until it was just a façade, except for one photo. It was out of focus, but Lisa knew the happiness in it was real.

"Karl, why didn't I get to follow you? I should have died on Mars too."

In the months since the SDF-1 had landed on Mars, Lisa had thought this, but now she was not as confident in the statement.

Because she could not think of that day on Sara Base without thinking of Rick, who had rescued her from certain death.

She had been furious at him at first, but she couldn't really stay angry at him, since he couldn't have known her pain.

Of course, that didn't mean they hadn't fought any less, at least…until they, along with Max and Ben had been captured by the Zentraedi.

The kiss in front of the Leader of the Zentraedi, Dolza.

It was only supposed to be a 'demonstration'…but it had been such a long time since Lisa had kissed anyone…and despite the fact he was infuriating and five years younger than she, he wasn't so bad at it…not at all.

Lisa snapped the photo album shut and looked up at the clock in the room.

_Just ten hours I can get back to the Bridge_. She thought to herself and she couldn't wait until then.

* * *

Both their forks reached for the last piece of pineapple at the same time.

"Hey, I should get it, I've had a hard day," Roy objected, giving Claudia his most beguiling grin.

"Chef's privilege," Claudia challenged him, arching her eyebrow.

"Should we arm wrestle for it?"

Claudia laughed. "Please."

"Oh, all right, ladies before gentlemen," Roy gave in, withdrawing his fork.

Claudia winked as she popped the last bit of pineapple into her mouth.

"You know, you were supposed to object," Roy rolled his eyes.

"Pft, you know me better than **that**, I hope."

"Hmmm…" Roy reached out and took her hand in his, bringing it to his lips. "I know you all right."

Claudia giggled, then tried to affect a serious look. "Don't be so cocky, I'm still angry at you."

"Well, you don't play fair then, because I could be just as angry at you," Roy returned, but didn't let go of her hand.

"But then, we have better things to do then argue," Claudia said in a low voice.

Roy gave her a wicked look at her. "Oh, I agree, **much** better things," he got to his feet, pulling her up with him.

Claudia though, still seemed to be upset with him. "I suppose you're planning on heading back to your own barracks, after all, you never know when the next sortie will be."

"Oh come on, Claudia, don't be like that. I'll have you know, I'm free as a bird until…well…at least until the morning. And in our line of work you've got to take them when they come wouldn't you say?" He wriggled his eyebrows at her.

Claudia burst out laughing. "You look like an idiot when you do that, you know."

"Gee, thanks," Roy remarked, dryly. Then he her a wicked smile and drew her close. "Now, do you want me to get lost, or…"

Claudia gave a wicked grin of her own and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately.

"Does that answer your question?" She asked when they parted.

"It certainly does…" and with that Roy swept her up in his arms.

* * *

Rico, Konda and Bron were three Zentraedi in a very strange situation…

Plenty of Zentraedi had been micronised before, but not in the name of a spy mission. Most Zentraedi would refuse such a thing, since it would remove them from the glory of the battle.

But after seeing the Miss Macross Contest from their recon ship and hearing the stories of Dolza Rico, Konda and Bron had changed.

And they had changed even more since the great Miriya had inserted them inside the SDF-1.

Initially, they were meant to observe the micronians only, and stay as far away from their 'society' as possible, but the three had found that impossible. Especially whenever they heard the songs of the female called Minmei.

The Zentraedi had never heard music before, and the light hearted songs stirred something within them. They began to wonder if their life really was the glorious one they'd always believed.

And now they were sitting around a small fire in an unused corner of the SDF-1, near an extremely odd contraption that was slowly taking the shape of a battlepod.

The three were watching a small doll walking across the floor in front of them, singing in a small voice.

"_I spend my days alone, chasing a dreeeam._"

"I can't believe we have to leave in just a few lon," Bron suddenly spoke.

"Well, we have our orders," Rico muttered, but his voice did not hold the conviction it once would have had.

"But…I like it here!" Bron suddenly burst out. "The micronians know how to…what's that word? Have fun!"

"We're Zentraedi," Konda said, brushing back his purple hair, "we live for battle not for fun."

"Hmpf," Rico muttered.

"What about those females we met?" Bron pressed. "Sammie, Vanessa and Kim? We'll never see them again."

This time neither Rico nor Konda could respond with typical Zentraedi phrases. They were remembering Sammie, Vanessa and Kim too.

About a lon ago, when the three had snatched the Minmei doll, not having the 'money' as the micronians called it, and ran from the vendor, they had run straight into these females.

At first, they had been quite sure their cover had been blown; Sammie had even asked them what planet they were from! Fortunately, it seemed that was just another one of the micronians' odd expressions.

And while Rico had been stuttering and trying to come up with something to say, Konda had burst out with a micronian expression of his own. "We work over there!" And had pointed at a strange building with bright lights.

The females had been almost beside themselves with excitement, apparently the building contained what they called a 'disco' and they had insisted on Rico, Konda and Bron taking them.

Of course they didn't actually work there, but Sammie, Vanessa and Kim seemed to forget about that, and had even paid the large man who guarded the door of the place to let them in.

Rico had assumed that with all this trouble, the building would contain some sort of secretive micronian weapon, which had reminded him of what he was supposed to be doing for his commanders.

But if the 'disco' had been a weapon, it was one that the three spies had never encountered before. Inside were dozens of micronians, all wearing very different uniforms to each other and moving in an entirely non-combat fashion.

And many of them were paired male and female as micronians so often seemed to be.

The three spies had hardly been able to believe their eyes, and the next thing they knew, each of the females had grabbed one of them and pulled them into the crush.

Rico had danced with Sammie, a small girl with long red hair and an infectious laugh. She had kept taking his hands and trying to show him what she called 'dance moves'.

"Have you ever danced before?" She'd laughed at him at one point.

"Uhh…" He hadn't known what to say.

Sammie had not waited for him to answer, thankfully and had instead twirled under his arm.

After a while, Rico had actually picked up some of the 'dance moves' and had even tried some of his own, which Sammie had found quite amusing.

All too soon, an alarm had sounded, everyone in the building stopped their 'dancing' and Vanessa and Kim had run over with Bron and Konda in tow and with apologies had told the three that they had to leave.

"Duty calls," Vanessa sighed.

"But we had a great time!" Kim added, holding Konda's arm and then to his shock she **placed her lips to his cheek**!

Before either Rico or Bron could really take it in, Sammie and Vanessa had done the same to them and then…they were gone.

Since then Rico had had trouble thinking of much else, never in his life had anything like that happened before. Zentraedi rarely made physical contact and certainly none that had involved lips on cheeks.

"What do you think it means?" Konda had asked as they walked to their hideout.

"I think it is a symbol of the 'great' time they had," Rico spoke slowly.

"Well, I'd like to have a lot more great times, then!" Bron had declared.

Rico and Konda had quieted him.

Now Rico heaved a sigh. "We have our orders," he said, "once the battlepod is done, we are to leave and that's all there is to it."

He gave Bron a particularly hard look and whilst Bron was by far the tallest and biggest of the group, he was more of a follower and he nodded.

"Right," Konda spoke, almost faintly, "for the glory of the Zentraedi."

* * *

"You gonna eat that?"

Max looked up, he had almost forgotten where he was and saw Ben pointing with his fork at the steak on his plate.

"Oh, naw," Max pushed his plate over to his friend, "they make these big don't they?"

"All the more to enjoy," Ben laughed and dug in.

"Hmm," Max took a sip of water, his mind still on that day's battle, those alien mecha had been very impressive and it had been a very challenging battle. Max's mind though, was full of the leader of the group, the few brief seconds he had seen of him at least.

He wasn't sure why, but he felt he would meet with that alien pilot.

"You know, I got one of those battle suits today," Ben remarked then.

"Really? That's great, Ben," Max smiled at his friend. It had to be said that Ben wasn't the ace of the fleet, but he was certainly getting better lately.

"What about you, huh?" Ben nudged him with his elbow. "What did the Blue Baron get?"

"Oh come on," Max laughed, his cheeks slightly red, "I'm nothing like that."

"You are, and you know it," Ben shot back. "But come on, give us the numbers."

"I got at least four," Max finally said.

"Damn, you're good," Ben shook his head. "But I beat you in the steak eatin' huh?"

Max smiled and nodded. "For sure."

Once Ben had finished off Max's steak and the two had paid they headed off into the city.

"You know what's missin' this evening?" Ben said as they walked. "Babes, where are all the women?"

"What do you mean, there were about twenty of them back in the restaurant."

Ben made a face. "I meant babes, those girls were…well…you know, just normal lookin'."

Max thought that was a rather unfair assessment, he hadn't been taken with any of them, but they were pretty enough he through.

"Well, I'm sure they were all nice."

Ben gave a loud laugh. "Well, I'm not really interested in their personalities at the moment."

Max shook his head. "Will you ever be serious about women, Ben?"

"Serious? You mean like gettin' engaged or somethin' like that?"

"Well, not that, I thought more like…going out more than just once."

Ben shrugged. "Eh, who has time for that sort of thing? We're pilots after all."

"So?" Max didn't really understand what he was getting at.

"Well, you never know…I mean, what sort of woman would want to put up with that? It would just be depressing…"

Max didn't know what to say to that, Ben was right. _Which is a shame, because I wouldn't mind having a date…or two…_

"Hey," Ben put a hand on Max's shoulder. "What's say we go to the _Bamboo Hut_, that place is always goin'."

Max wasn't really a fan of disco, but it did have some energy to burn, so why not.

"Why not, just as long as you don't get me with your two left feet," he said with a laugh.

"**Hey!**" Ben objected, but the two continued on towards the _Bamboo Hut_.

* * *

Captain Gloval was relieved to be off the Bridge and back in his quarters. This was happening more and more lately. In all the previous commands he had had he may not have always **wanted** to be on the Bridge, but he had never been desperate to get off it.

_Chalk it up to hopelessness_. Gloval thought to himself, he did not feel entirely hopeless, of course, he was surrounded by good men and women and that was perhaps the problem. As time went on, he had less and less of them.

And now he had to contend with the Brass refusing to assist even the innocent civilians aboard the ship. He still couldn't believe the orders he'd been issued, to leave earth as soon as practicable, civilians and all! What was he supposed to tell those poor people when the time came?

It was over yet, in some ways this was the worst part of his day, on his desk sat a report, a detail of those wounded and killed in that day's battle.

It was time to write the condolence letters, even though many would not reach the intended recipients, since as far as they knew, everyone on the SDF-1 had been killed more than year ago.

But there were more and more pilots and soldiers coming from the pool of civilians, whose families waited and prayed for them, but the prayers had not been answered.

It had to be done, though.

With another deep sigh, Gloval sat down and picked up his pen, looking at the first name on the dreaded list.

_Dear Mrs. Kramer_….he began.


	4. Chapter 4

"_What the Hell did I sign up for?!"_ Ensign Roy Fokker following his first combat mission in the _Global Civil War_

* * *

Roy had had very few good mornings during the SDF-1's struggle back to earth. He was always relieved to wake up, since if nothing else it proved he really was still alive, but the prospect of having to face another battle wasn't exactly comforting.

But this particular morning certainly beat the others, even if Claudia was telling him off.

"The point of a plate, Roy, is to **prevent** crumbs from getting all over the place."

"Hey, you know I like my toast crunchy," he said in his defense.

With an annoyed hmpf, Claudia climbed out of bed in order to brush out the crumbs that had accumulated.

"I didn't know you were such a neat nick," Roy grinned at her, "I seem to recall plenty of fights with Miss Hayes over a certain someone leaving their clothes all over the place."

"Clothes are clothes," Claudia shot back, "they've never hurt anyone."

As if the universe had heard, Claudia's feet somehow ended up entangled in yesterday's discarded stockings and almost sent her tripping to the floor.

Roy reached out and grabbed her arm, steadying her. "You were saying?"

"Forget it," Shaking her head, Claudia sat down on the edge of the bed and took a large bite of a peach.

"You know, before you started lecturing me, I was thinking to myself what a fine morning this is." Roy finished the last of his toast.

"Oh, and now I've ruined it?"

Roy made a show of looking affronted, then he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "You could never ruin anything, babe."

"Sure."

"Can't you appreciate a romantic gesture when you receive one?" He complained.

"Not when it has bread crumbs all over it."

"You're a hard woman, Lieutenant Grant."

"Thank you," Claudia smiled and planted a kiss on his cheek.

Roy threw up his hands in mock resignation. "Women!"

"You say that with a bit **too** much knowledge for my liking, Commander Fokker," Claudia said in a warning tone, but the corner of her mouth tugged in a small smile.

"Well, be rest assured, my love, that I really meant to say 'woman' because let's face it, you're more confusing than most."

"Thank you," Claudia made a show of looking superior, before adding, "…I think…"

Roy was about to kiss her again, when the phone rang and Claudia hurried to answer it. "Damn, typical, can't resist the ring of a phone."

Claudia looked over her shoulder and poked her tongue out at him before answering. "Lieutenant Grant."

Roy couldn't see or hear the conversation, and Claudia didn't give much away, at least not until she hung up the phone rather abruptly.

"Someone coming to repossess something?" Roy attempted to joke with her.

"I wish," Claudia said, with irritation as she began hunting about for another pair of stockings along with the rest of her uniform. "Duty calls."

"What? Now?"

"Obviously, you're not the only one who has to keep all hours, Commander."

"Hey, that hurt." Roy made a show of pouting.

Claudia's face softened and she came over to the bed. "It sucks, I know…especially since you seem to actually have free time for once." She said softly, kissing him quickly. "But Captain Gloval was pretty serious, so…"

"I know, I know," Roy told her, "I'll just stay here and play Suzy Homemaker, I mean just look at this mess! Shocking!"

Claudia made a show of trying to hit him on the head, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her close for another kiss.

After a few moments, Claudia pulled back just enough to speak. "You know, I've got the Captain of this whole ship waiting for me…"

Though he really didn't want to, Roy let go of Claudia's arm and she hurried off into the bathroom.

"But, I really would appreciate it if you clean up."

* * *

Lisa looked up as Claudia hurried onto the Bridge, almost out of a breath and rendering a salute to Captain Gloval.

"I hope I'm not late, sir."

"Not **too** late," Captain Gloval smiled briefly, then became serious. "But we have important matters to discuss."

Claudia hurried over to join Lisa, straightening her uniform jacket slightly.

"Now, as you know United Earth Government is refusing to allow us to offload the civilians, "Gloval began, his hands behind his back. "They fear causing a riot by allowing it to get out that we are currently at war with an alien race. How long they can possibly keep it a secret, I don't know, but I know that we cannot give into their orders. To continue putting innocent people in the line of fire is a crime I am not prepared to be responsible for."

"That's for sure," Claudia remarked, with a nod.

"What are we going to do, sir," Lisa spoke up. "The Government doesn't seem to have any intention of reversing their decision."

"Well, then, Lisa, we will simply have to go over their heads."

"Sir?!" Lisa was stunned, Captain Gloval might not always be by the book, but to defy a direct order?

Claudia didn't look shocked at all however. "Fine idea, sir," she even smiled! "How exactly are we going to do that?"

"Well, obviously, we cannot remain here, the UEG have put a cordon around the area and are simply passing us off as one of its new war technology projects," Gloval mused, tapping his lip with his forefinger. "We need to get to more populous areas."

"You mean, **take off**, sir?" Lisa asked, fiddling with the sleeve of her uniform jacket, nervously. "Without permission?"

"We really have no choice, Lisa," Claudia spoke up, turning to her, "they won't know we're here otherwise."

"I suppose…but…"

"It's not as if they'd **attack** us…at least, I hope not," Claudia threw a look at Gloval.

"No, they certainly wouldn't, we'll probably all be court-martialed in absentia for it, but there really is nothing we can do."

Lisa couldn't meet either Gloval's or Claudia's eyes, but she knew they were both right, finally she nodded as well.

"All right then, we will need to prepare for departure then, I want it done quietly though, we are no doubt been monitored by the UEG and I liked to give them as little notice as possible."

"Yes, sir!" Claudia and Lisa answered together, saluting.

With a nod, Gloval left the Bridge.

"Well, what do you think of that?" Claudia remarked.

"I don't like it," Lisa spoke, honestly, "I've never disobeyed an order like this before, but we can't keep the civilians here. I just hope we can find a place for them quickly...after all, how long will the Zentraedi stay in orbit and not send a mass of ships and **really** show the UEG what an alien war is."

"Yeah, and they certainly won't be ready for it."

"Well, I guess we better get started…with communiqués since we need to maintain radio silence." Lisa immediately started putting together all the contingencies and necessary orders that needed to be relayed to get the SDF-1 off the ground.

It was a good feeling, since there was nothing that helped Lisa get her mind off the problems of her life than work.

* * *

Tommy Luan, the Mayor of Macross City was annoyed.

For nearly thirteen months now, he and the captain of the SDF-1 had been sharing just about all information that was relevant. In the mayor's case, that would be the general mood of the citizens on the ship, damage incurred during attacks and so forth.

In Captain Gloval's case, it was any transformations, battles, the movements of the alien forces and any messages from the commanders on earth.

But lately, there was nothing from that quarter.

When the SDF-1 had landed there had been great celebrations across the ship, mixed with sadness, it may have been an unusual situation, but the SDF-1 had ended up been their home and a good one at that. But everyone was in agreement, that there would be nothing better than getting back on solid ground.

_I just didn't expect it to take so long. _Tommy thought to himself, pacing about his office.

The celebrations for their homecoming had gone for three days, after which the mayor had fully expected he and his townspeople to be offloaded the ship, but here they were two weeks later.

Aside from Minmei none of them had left the ship and he had not been asked to any conferences with the Brass upon the ship, when previously he had been given an update of the situation at least once a week.

A few days ago there had been the announcement that no-one would be leaving the ship, but if had been followed up with the clause of "not just yet", which everyone had taken that to mean that eventually things would start moving again.

Right now he was been inundated with letters and phone calls from various citizens wanting to know how the offloading was going, when would they be able to contact their families, was there somewhere they had to register?

And Tommy had no answers for them.

"Dear," a voice called, "Tommy, are we still going to dinner?"

The door to the office opened and his wife stepped in.

Everyone in Macross was used to the Luan's by now, but originally any person who met them had been rather amused by the differences in their physical appearance.

Tommy Luan was a small roundish man, who spoke loudly and gestured wildly and was always at the forefront of things.

His wife, Lucy on the other hand was tall and thin, she spoke in a quiet voice and preferred to be in the background.

But they were very close, and worked very well together, especially since Lucy never forgot a thing, while Tommy often couldn't remember making an appointment ten minutes after doing so.

"Hmm, dinner?"

"At the _White Dragon_, dear," Lucy prompted him, "Lena and Max have invited us along, Minmei may even make an appearance."

Tommy smiled, he always liked to see Minmei, whose fame aboard the ship was, he liked to remind himself, partly due to his foresight in entering her in the Miss Macross pageant. Beyond that, there was the fact that Minmei could be counted on to keep the crowds happy even in dire circumstances such as this.

"Well, I don't remember," he admitted, sheepishly, "but of course we must go! What time is it, anyway?" He looked about, wondering how he'd forgotten to put on a watch today.

"It's only four o'clock, but I just wanted to remind you," Lucy gave him an amused smile. "Should I write it down?"

"No, I think I'll be all right to remember it," he took it in good humour, at least until he turned back to the letters and the blinking light on the answering machine on his desk, symbolizing the many, many calls. "I guess I should try to get around to answering these."

"A bit hard when we don't know what's happening," Lucy replied, pressing her lips together.

"Well, we can hope to receive something from the Captain."

He hadn't actually expected anything to happen, but at that moment the door bell sounded. Tommy looked at his wife, but it was clear she wasn't expecting anyone, he leaned over and pressed a button on his desk to allow whoever it was up.

It turned out to be a member of the RDF, one from the lower ranks, in a brown uniform.

"Mayor Luan," the man greeted him with a crisp salute.

"Uh…Officer," Tommy replied, not able to figure out what rank the man was.

"I have a message from the Bridge," the officer stepped forward holding out a folded note.

Tommy was surprised, usually Captain Gloval called him, it was the 21st century after all, but he took the note and opened it, his eyes widening.

"Do we have your consent to this?" The officer asked, once Tommy looked up.

"Uh…um…yes," Tommy began with a stutter, than got a grip on himself, "certainly, tell Captain Gloval I have full confidence in his plan."

"Sir," the officer saluted again, and with a sharp turn, marched from the room.

Lucy came over to her husband's side. "What is it, dear? What does the note say?"

Tommy looked up at her, almost trembling with excitement. "The Captain is preparing to take-off! We're going to find asylum somewhere and get off the ship!"

* * *

Had Roy known what assignment Gloval wanted him to do, he probably would have stayed an actually cleaned up Claudia's quarters.

An official Robetech Defense Force envelope in hand, Roy headed towards the family accommodation area on the base, where non-military relatives stayed.

Roy looked about, hoping he'd run into someone he knew so he could end up getting into a long, pointless conversation and put off this duty as long as possible.

Unfortunately, the area was totally deserted...in fact so deserted that Roy wondered if he'd somehow missed a transformation siren, but as he entered the barracks he saw the watchman was on duty.

"Hey, Greg," Roy greeted him.

"Fokker, what's the news?" Greg greeted him.

Roy held up the letter. "Nothing good, is Mrs. Kramer in?"

"Oh no," Greg took in the envelope, shaking his head, "is that what I think it is?"

" 'Fraid so."

"She is in, I'll call you up," Greg picked up the phone.

Roy couldn't help but wince. _Great…_"Thanks," he said aloud, however.

Mrs. Kramer's quarters were on the fourth floor, and Roy took the stairs, going over what he could possibly say to make this easier for Kramer's widow.

He couldn't think of anything.

Roy didn't even get a chance to knock as Mrs. Kramer already had the door open, and was looking pale and shaky.

Any speech Roy had thought up went right out of his head as Mrs. Kramer put her face in her hands and began to sob, her shoulders shaking.

Hurrying over, Roy put an arm around her shoulders and led her back into her quarters to the couch.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," was all he could think to say as they sat down.

"I knew it, I knew it," Mrs. Kramer said, through heaving breaths, "he always calls…always…"

"I'm really, really sorry…" Roy felt pretty stupid, but it was all he could think to say.

Finally, after a few moments, Mrs. Kramer got up from the couch and went over to grab some tissues from a box on the coffee table.

"May I offer you a cup of coffee?" She asked.

"Uh…" Roy was surprised by the question, "sure…"

Mrs. Kramer hurried off to the kitchen.

Left on the couch, Roy picked at a loose thread, trying to get his thoughts together. "Kramer was a good man," he finally said, "I mean, he was a total hardass on duty, and off duty, too, really…" He trailed off, that was perhaps not the most appropriate thing to say. "He was a good man, and a great pilot."

Mrs. Kramer returned from the kitchen two steaming coffee mugs in her hands.

"He was devoted to his duty," she said quietly, handing a cup to him.

"There was no better second in command to depend on," Roy told her.

"Thank you," a tear slid down Mrs. Kramer's cheek. "Thank you for coming to tell me personally…I know it's not standard procedure."

"Well, Kramer deserved better than just a quick letter."

Mrs. Kramer nodded.

"I won't have a better wingman than him, I can tell you that," Roy added.

She gave him a shaky smile. "I remember when all he used to do is complain about you…Said you were totally undisciplined and sure to ruin the entire Robotech project. Turns out he was wrong, I guess."

"Oh, I don't know…there were a few close calls," Roy grinned at her.

Mrs. Kramer patted his arm. "You know, the passed few months Bob and I have been very happy, and I'm glad that for that. I'll always have it."

"Yeah…" Roy said slowly, nodding. _You really never do know how it will all end, do you…_

* * *

"We're taking off?" Rick stared at the phone for a moment, wondering if it was a bad line.

"Yeah, you better batten down the hatches and…whatever it is they do," Roy's voice crackled from the receiver.

"Weren't you a naval officer?" Rick joked, putting the phone back to his ear.

"Sure, but I never had to batten down anything."

Rick laughed. "So, where exactly are we going? Have the UEG finally come to their senses?"

"We wish, nope, we're just gonna plead for amnesty."

"What, just fly all over the globe and wait for someone to agree to take them?" It didn't sound official at all…not that that bothered Rick.

"Well, sure, it's not like they'll have trouble spotting us, we'll have those civilians off in no time."

A small part of Rick was disappointed, after all, Minmei would probably go with the rest of them…but he couldn't think about that now.

"So, why are you telling me all this exactly? It's not like I can help, I'm chained here like a prisoner."

"I told you to stop hitting on the nurses," Roy lectured him, mockingly, "what are we going to do with you?"

"Ha ha."

"I just figured you ought to know Little Brother, after all, you'll be out of there pretty soon, and I wouldn't want you to be completely out of the loop."

"Well, thanks."

"Another reason is I wanted to make sure there was no hard feelings that I won't be able to visit you. Everyone who can be has basically become a runner, we're getting ready for take off mostly without radio communication."

"Now I **know** we're doin' something illegal," Rick commented.

"Hey now, it's not illegal to disobey an idiotic order, and the UEG is giving those out left and right."

Rick chuckled. "Well, if it's for a good cause, I'll forgive you for leaving me in the lurch here. Besides I got your gifts, both of them."

"Ah, success!"

"Yeah, the bird might be small and fiddly, but they're fun."

"And what do you think of my model planes?"

Rick poked his tongue out at the phone. "Minmei was very well, thanks."

"That's great, 'cause those ten minutes I had to spend on the movie set are ones I'll never get back."

"Hey, just be glad you can walk further than to the end of the hall and back."

"I'll be walking a lot further than **that**, let me tell you…Speaking of which, I gotta get goin'. Your wingmates will be able to see you, though, they somehow didn't get roped into this crap."

"Well, I'll look forward to it, good luck, Big Brother, don't trip down any stairs."

"You kiddin'? If I did **that** I'd end up in that room with you, and you snore something terrible."

"I'm hanging up now," Rick warned.

"OK, OK, I take it back, I've heard worse snoring…Now take care of yourself, because I don't know how much more of Dixon I can take."

"Hey, lay off, Ben he's OK."

"In small doses, maybe…" Roy trailed off and then yelled something to someone. "All right, I'm definitely out of here."

"See ya, Big Brother."


	5. Chapter 5

"_Lord Khyron doesn't frighten me! I can keep him in order just fine." _Azonia, Commander of the Female Zentraedi Fleets on hearing that Khyron would be under her command.

* * *

Two weeks had passed since the SDF-1 had taken off.

The UEG had barely been able to believe their eyes when they received the footage of the giant battle fortress taking flight, but there was not much they could do about it.

As it turned out, though, most of the people on Earth didn't know what to make of the SDF-1 either. The ship had passed over Santiago, Lima and Panama, but none of those cities had responded to the ship's pleas to accept the 50,000 civilians aboard. It was quite possible with all the misinformation the UEG had been throwing about the officials of those places simply didn't believe it.

Admiral Hayes kept a close eye on the ship, after all his daughter was on it, even though it was rather apparent she had no interest in taking up his offer of getting her transferred off the ship.

_Lisa, I'm only trying to protect you…_

He had to admit to himself, though, he was rather uncomfortable with the Council's decision to refuse asylum to the civilians. Hayes may have a bone to pick with Gloval, but he had nothing against the civilians of Macross City. In fact, Hayes felt sorry for them, dragged as they had been into a conflict with aliens.

But he had been voted down by the rest of the Council, and he had no choice, it wasn't as if he could go over their heads.

The phone on his desk rang, and even though he knew it was impossible, his heart leapt, hoping as ever, that it would be Lisa.

"Hayes," he answered.

"Admiral, it's Edwards with an update on the SDF-1," a low grumbling voice spoke down the line.

Hayes straightened in his seat and picked up his computer pen to take notes. "Yes?"

"It's projected flight path will take them directly over the base…General Herbert is of the opinion that they plan to reveal our location to the world." Edwards continued.

"What? That's ridiculous…they may be disobeying orders, but Captain Gloval would never reveal the location of the Grand Cannon, he is under military oath."

"The fact he's disobeying direct orders surely points to the Captain not putting much stock in oaths, sir."

"There's no way," Hayes affirmed, "Edwards, I want you to convene a meeting of the council, seems like a few people on this base are giving in to hysteria, I won't have it."

Edwards was silent for a few moments, which made Hayes distinctly uncomfortable, over the past year that Edwards had become his aide, he had got the impression that the man had no real allegiance to the RDF. And that worried him.

"Aye, aye, Admiral," Edwards finally said.

Hanging up the phone, Hayes began tapping his fingers nervously upon the desk. He was sure that disaster was going to catch up with the SDF-1, and it probably would sooner rather than later…

_Lisa, why didn't you listen to me_?

* * *

Rick Hunter entered the _Prometheus_, surprised to feel relieved to be back.

After a week in the hospital, he had been released into the outpatient facility, but had not allowed to return to duty until the bruising in his brain had healed.

For the first time since joining the RDF then, Rick had had time on his hands…a few months ago he would have been overjoyed, calling up Minmei and visiting her at the _White Dragon_.

But Minmei was a star now, and was never able to take calls, and certainly was no longer a waitress at her aunt and uncle's restaurant.

For the first couple of days Rick had sat in his barrack room, his boredom finally punctuated by visit from Ben and Max.

Max took them along to an arcade near the base _Close Encounters_ and despite being a pilot for most of his life, Rick had never really played video games, Max however, was an old pro. And since the tokens you could win at the arcade could be converted into dollars, Max had been able to shout them all dinner.

Roy had also visited him, albeit very briefly.

"Geeze, you're a wild one aren't you? All this time off and the best you can think of to do is sit here staring out the window?" Roy had greeted him.

"Well, there's not much I **can** do is there?"

"What do you mean? There's a whole city out there."

"Because you spend so much time there yourself," Rick had cocked an eyebrow at his Big Brother.

"Well, I don't, but then I can get my kicks on the base."

"Good for you, I can't get my kicks **anywhere**."

Roy had folded his arms and sat down on the edge of the desk in the room. "I assume you're talking about Minmei?"

Rick had shrugged and made a show of trying to assemble a particularly difficult section of a model plane Roy, Max and Ben had brought him as a gift.

"She's a busy girl, I suppose, but then aren't we all? Have you tried visiting or calling her?"

"I'm beginning to look like a stalker!" Rick had shaken his head.

"Hmmm…" Roy had looked thoughtful, as if he was trying to come up with some idea to help Rick out, which he appreciated, but Rick could hardly expect Roy to always solve his problems.

"Look, don't worry about it," he had told him, "I'm fine…I'm sure once Minmei finishes up her movie we'll get together. You've got more important things to worry about."

Roy had still looked concerned, but at that point his pager had gone off and he had had to excuse himself.

Now, having been cleared by a medical check, Rick headed over to one of the engineers on duty.

"Hey there."

The engineer turned and taking in his lieutenant stripes saluted. "Sir."

"Uh, at ease," Rick was sure he'd never get used to been saluted, "I was just wondering if a plane had been assigned to me yet…Lieutenant Rick Hunter."

The engineer looked through the pages on his clipboard and ran his finger down the columns. "Uh-huh, there's something here…VF 209, it's over there," the engineer pointed.

Following his finger, Rick saw a rather dented Veritech, obviously it had been salvaged.

"We'll get it back into top condition before you go out in it, of course," the engineer was quick to reassure him. "But if you wanna look it over now, be my guest."

Rick nodded and headed over, it was really no surprise that he'd get a fighter like this…after all in his brief career this would be his fourth.

As he was examining the fuselage for any cracks or holes he heard two familiar voices.

"He returns."

"Take cover!"

Rick looked over his shoulder. "Max, Ben! I didn't know you guys would be here."

"Just checkin' our equipment, Boss," Ben said with a big grin, "after all, we wanna be in top shape if we have to face those aliens again."

Max nodded. "The engineers here are pretty busy, so it's always good to make sure you're in the clear."

"Well, I better not make any bets then," Rick muttered, looking at his fighter.

Ben gave a laugh. "Oh, you'll be fine!" And with that he gave Rick a hard slap on the shoulder, which almost sent Rick falling flat on the deck.

"Ow…thanks, Ben, I just got clearance."

Ben put his hands on Rick and Max's shoulders. "You know what we should do? Head over to the _Kindest Cut_ they're havin' a sale, three for the price of two."

"Well, who could resist," Rick said, slightly sarcastic.

Ben didn't seem to mind, he just laughed. "All right, let's go!"

* * *

Captain Gloval was tapping his fingers on the arm of his command chair as Claudia made yet another communication asking for assistance.

_Who'd have thought this would be so difficult?_ Gloval wondered, shaking his head.

Briefly he considered simply landing the ship and offloading the civilians, what was anyone going to do? But he wasn't prepared to go that far yet…surely, some mayor or city official somewhere would…

"Captain," Claudia suddenly announced, "we're receiving a transmission from a civilian channel."

Gloval got to his feet quickly. "What's its source?"

"The Ontario Quadrant," Claudia responded, "I'll patch it through."

"Greetings from Ontario, Captain Gloval, I'm Mayor Carlisle. I've received your ships SOS and would like to inform you that we would be willing to take on the civilians. Repeat we are willing to take your civilians. We can furnish you with landing co-ordinates as soon as you respond."

There was a cheer from the Bridge Bunnies.

"Hooray!" Shouted Kim

"Go Canada!" Sammie punched the air.

"I knew someone would come to our rescue!" Vanessa clapped her hands together with relief.

Lisa was more subdued, but she turned to Gloval with a smile. "It looks like we've succeed, sir, should I respond right away?"

Gloval nodded. "Yes, and change co-ordinates, Claudia, how soon can we get to the Ontario sector?"

Claudia turned to her station and imputed some quick calculations. "If we go to stratospheric level and go at flight speed we can reach it in about an hour."

"All right then, Lisa, give Mayor Carlisle our thanks and those details, I'll give Mayor Luan the word so he can prepare the civilians."

"Roger."

Gloval walked to the front of the Bridge, looking over the wide view of sea and land, which began to recede as the SDF-1 gained altitude in order to pick up speed.

Soon the battle fortress would be just that, a military ship, rather than a civilian carrier.

_Well, things are finally looking up_. Gloval thought, as he straightened his cap.

* * *

Azonia frowned. _Where is Miriya?_

Aside from a short recording from her a few lon ago there had been nothing, which was quite unusual, especially since the micronians had kept Zor's fortress on the move. Ordinarily, Miriya could be depended on to ask for frequent updates and possible launch windows for attacks.

"Yaita," Azonia called, suddenly.

"Yes, m'lady?" Yaita, a small red headed Zentraedi, who acted as Azonia's aide came to stand beside her.

"Get me into contact with Miriya, the micronians are planning something and if they aren't, Khyron certainly is and I want to get her input."

"Yes, m'lady," with a salute Yaita went to a nearby control panel and made the necessary inputs needed for a ship to ship transmission.

A comm. screen appeared on the face of the command bubble, but the Zentraedi who appeared was not Miriya.

"Second Officer Seloy Deparra reporting," the red headed Zentraedi saluted sharply.

"Second Officer Seloy," Azonia nodded to her, "where is First Officer Miriya? She has not been injured, certainly?"

Seloy's eyes shifted to the left as if she was thinking of what to tell her Commander. "Miriya has been…practicing drills rather incessantly since our fight with the micronian forces three lon ago."

Azonia raised her eyebrows. _Drills? Miriya?_ Miriya did not do drills, since she considered herself well-practiced enough all ready, she only engaged in mock battles. _What is this?_

"Be that as it may, I need to speak to her urgently, call her in."

"I'm afraid that she is not in communication…she is using my Quaedluun-Rau, there may be some problem with its comm. system…I was having trouble with it."

"Using **your** Quaedluun-Rau," Azonia even more surprised. "Why would she be doing that?"

Seloy cleared her throat and seemed to shift from foot to foot. "Hers was irreparably damaged in the battle…so…"

Azonia rose to her feet. "What? Why was I not informed of this?"

"I wasn't aware you'd been left uninformed m'lady," Seloy replied apologetically.

"Well, she can't stay out practicing drills forever, when she returns to the ship I want her to come aboard my cruiser immediately."

"Yes, m'lady," Seloy nodded, quickly.

Azonia nodded, the communication screen disappeared and she returned to her command chair her lips pursed in thought.

_These micronians are nothing but trouble_.

* * *

Khyron would have agreed with Azonia had he known what she was thinking.

He paced on the bridge of his own cruiser observing Zor's battle fortress as it sped towards…somewhere.

"Grel, what is the trajectory of the battle fortress?"

Grel, his aide quickly worked at a console, a screen appeared with a map on it, showing the outline of the landmass the battle fortress was currently flying over, a dotted line showing the its projected path.

"We did intercept a communication a few mil ago," Grel continued, "we weren't able to make out all of it, but it seems to suggest that they are heading for here…" He hit a button and a red dot appeared on the map.

"Hmm…I wonder why…" Khyron tapped his chin with his forefinger. "These micronians…so unpredictable, but then perhaps that is their strength."

Grel looked surprised at what was almost praise for the enemy, but he did not say so, one did not cross Khyron.

"But, if they are indeed stopping, we have a chance," Khyron turned to him, "they will certainly be offloading something, and that will leave them vulnerable to any assault."

"Uh…but m'lord, we have received orders not to attack the ship," Grel felt the need to point out…again.

Khyron crossed his arms. "So? It is quite obvious that ship is more trouble that it is worth. Of course we will attempt to capture it intact, but if it is destroyed by **accident**, well…"

Grel was quite certain that Azonia or Dolza for that matter would not accept such an excuse, but he also knew that there would be no stopping Khyron.

"Ready the Battalion," Khyron announced, looking over his shoulder at his aide. "We will send in Captain Zerrel."

Grel wasn't surprised, Zerrel was almost as much of a loose cannon as Khyron and would certainly be up for any battle, authorized or not, but he complied with the order quickly and soon the image of the green haired captain was on the screen.

"M'lord," he greeted Khyron enthusiastically with a brisk salute.

"At ease," Khyron smiled. "I have a mission for you, Zerrel, we have reason to believe the micronians, buoyed by our pathetic non-action, will be bringing the battle fortress to a stop at the co-ordinates I am now furnishing you with. We may have let them reach their home planet, but we cannot stand idle now. I want you to arrange for an assault."

A grin even wider than Khyron's spread across Zerrel's face. "A fine plan m'lord."

"Now, for appearances, you should at least **attempt** to capture the ship undamaged, but…" Khyron trailed off suggestively.

"Mistakes are a danger of war," Zerrel supplied.

"Indeed," Khyron gave a wink, "now, I will lead up the mecha group, but Grel will man my cruiser, now get started, the ship is nearing its destination."

"M'lord," Zerrel saluted and signed off.

"Now is the time…we will reclaim the glory of the Zentraedi," Khyron vowed before striding from the Bridge.

* * *

Ever since her defeat, Miriya had been practicing, and practicing hard, but not as her squadron thought on combat drills, she did not need practice in **that**. But she did need practice in the micronian language.

Having made her vow to confront the micronian who bested her, she knew what such a thing would require and she would have to blend in with the hated enemy if she was going to succeed.

The micronians were a primitive and backward species and their language had been easy enough to pick up.

Of course, whenever Miriya thought that she was reminded of her defeat…perhaps the enemy was not so primitive…

She shook her head, angrily, she must not let herself be tortured by those scenes of battle again, she had more important things to attend to.

Such as convincing Azonia to allow her to go ahead with her plans.

"But first, I must converse with Seloy," she spoke aloud in the micronian language, which sounded strange to her ears. Such a soft-spoken language, with none of the guttural tones of Zentraedi speech.

Miriya headed towards the bridge of her ship, where Seloy was waiting at least that was what the message she had received said when she had returned from her drills.

At the door to the ship's command centre a Zentraedi of about her height stood as guard, she saluted Miriya as soon as she saw her.

"At ease, Officer Hesh," Miriya nodded to her. "I take it that Seloy is still on the bridge?"

"She is," Hesh confirmed. "I will announce you."

Miriya was somewhat affronted, it was **her** ship after all, but she decided that Hesh might not realize how things worked. "Very well then."

"First Officer Miriya," Seloy greeted her as she entered.

"Second Officer Seloy, may we speak alone?" Miriya wasted no time.

Seloy looked slightly surprised at the request, but nodded and the two Zentraedi went to a side room.

"I have something to ask of you," Miriya began as soon as the door closed behind them, "and in return I will give you something."

Seloy was immediately intrigued, favours were not often made between Zentraedi, and tossed back her red hair. "What is that you want?"

"I have been studying the micronians language for three lon and I am now ready to be micronised. After that I need you to deliver me to Zor's battle fortress and return for me when I send for you, **without** fail. In return for this, you will have indefinite command of the Quadronos."

Seloy's eyes took on an excited gleam. "**Command** of the Quadronos?"

"**Pending** my return," Miriya reminded her sharply.

"Of course…"

"So, you will do it?" Miriya asked, relief flooding through her.

"Certainly," Seloy shrugged, not bothering to wonder why the finest pilot of the fleet suddenly wanted to be a spy. "Inform me when you are ready and I will meet you in the loading bay."

"Good, good, now I must report to Azonia, you have command of the ship from this point on."

"Yes, First Officer!" Seloy saluted sharply.

With that Miriya left, to prepare herself for the meeting with Azonia.


	6. Chapter 6

"_Dear Ma an' Dad, Sorry I haven't been around to see you much, but it's been busy as anything on the base. But since all the civilians are gonna be off the ship soon, I guess you'll have to get used to it…Not that I will, since you make the best steak and egg breakfast ever, Ma!"_ Sergent Ben Dixon in a letter to his parents.

* * *

In Macross City there was an atmosphere of high excitement, the announcement had been made just a few minutes before by Captain Gloval.

"Toronto! We're getting offloaded in Toronto!" The excited whisper went throughout the streets.

At the _White Dragon_, Max Lynn was wondering what if anything to pack. It seemed unlikely that the SDF-1 would be able to stay over a populated area for a long time and for all he knew the plan was to all but toss them onto the streets of Ontario's capital.

His wife Lena came from upstairs with a box in arms. "Too bad we never got any suitcases," she remarked, placing the box on one of the tales in the restaurant.

"Clothes?" Max asked her.

Lena shook her head. "Mostly mementos, after all, we can get clothes anywhere on earth, but we won't be able to get these things back if we have to leave them."

Max gave a small grunt and returned to his perusal of the kitchen, wondering if he should take the knife set…it had been quite an expensive purchase.

The ring of the phone interrupted his thoughts and Max hurried over to answer it. "_White Dragon_, sorry, we're closed-"

"Hi, Uncle Max!"

"Minmei, hello! I haven't heard from you for…well days, what have you been up to, dear? Getting ready to leave the ship I suppose?"

"Oh no, Uncle, we've been filming! Vance has been on our backs almost non-stop."

Max raised an eyebrow. "Filming? At a time like this? You probably won't be able to take the sets with you when we arrive in Toronto."

"Oh, well…" Minmei paused, uncertainly.

Max knew that tone well. "What is it, Minmei?"

"Well, Vance has suggested that…well…we stay," Minmei spoke quickly, "after all, soldiers need entertainment, don't they? And I'm the biggest act on the ship!"

"**What**?! Stay?! Minmei we're finally back here on earth, we're finally allowed to leave this ship and you want to **stay**?"

Lena, who was heading down the stairs with another box, looked over in concern.

"Well, it's been a good home to us, to me especially and I don't want to give up filming!"

"Minmei, do you know how dangerous being on this ship is? It's going to **war** for God sake! And been a civilian is no protection, we've lost almost 20,000 of our fellow townspeople in a year in here!"

"I know, Uncle, but –"

"What does Kyle say?" Lena, who had come to her husband's side, asked.

"I'll stay wherever Minmei is, Mother," Kyle's voice came over the line. "And really, her place is here on the ship."

Max shook his head, his son had always been so stubborn, anything his parents thought was a good idea, Kyle was sure to dismiss out of hand.

"I'm sure you'll be just as much of a star on earth, dear," Lena spoke to Minmei gently. "After all you have a fan base of 50,000 behind you!"

"I won't be on the ship forever, Auntie, I'm sure it will return for supplies in a few months and then I'll be ready to leave."

"A few months," Max repeated, shaking his head. _You might not __**survive**__ a few months._ "Minmei your parents had a hard enough time letting you back to the ship the first time you were allowed off, I don't think-"

"Look," Kyle suddenly broke in, "let's not discuss this right now; I'm sure they'll be time to decide when we get to Toronto. Who knows, the military might force us all off." He gave a brittle laugh.

Max was about to object further, but from the other end of the line there was the sound of someone yelling.

"Uh-oh, that's Vance now, Uncle and Auntie, we've got to go! Talk to you soon!" And with that Minmei hung up.

Max clapped a hand to his forehead, wondering what on earth he was going to do with his wayward son and dreamer niece.

* * *

"First Officer Grel, we are prepared for the assault, do we have Lord Khyron's permission to proceed?" Captain Zerrel appeared on the comm screen.

Grel passed the message onto Khyron, who was overseeing the attaching of booster rockets to various battle pod's and his own Officer's pod so they could begin the initial approach.

"Inform Zerrel that the Battalion will attack first, I will give him the signal once we have halted the battle fortresses movements."

"Yes, m'lord."

Grel repeated this information to Captain Zerrel, who appeared somewhat impatient, but acknowledged before disappearing from the screen.

"Now, Grel, I will be leading the first wave in twenty mil," Khyron informed his aide. "You will send the second in thirty mil, do you understand me?"

"Yes m'lord, but why are we attacking in such small numbers?" Grel couldn't help, but ask, it certainly wasn't standard Zentraedi tactics.

"To lull the micronians into our trap, of course, they surely believe that we are running scared and the appearance of such a small force will confirm it. They will hurry to engage us, and when they do…" Khyron trailed off and then gave a low mocking laugh.

Grel smiled too, it had been a while since there had been such anticipation in the air. It was sure to be a good battle. "We are certain to succeed, m'lord."

"Indeed, Grel, indeed…for the glory of the Zentraedi!"

* * *

Roy was going over his fighter, which had only just been returned from the engineering department after undergoing repairs on its missing arm.

The engineer who had delivered it had appeared rather affronted by the fact Roy wanted to check it over, but if there was nothing else Roy had learnt in his career, it was that you wanted to be sure your plane was in good shape.

And although it had been quiet on the alien front, Roy was pretty sure that he would be order to fly air cover while the civilians was been disembarked.

He checked his watch, according to the announcement made by Gloval; the SDF-1 would reach the offloading co-ordinates in just under twelve minutes.

It would be the first time he'd gone out in Skull-One since the battle against that alien battle suit, it had been the longest time he'd been grounded in years.

Roy had long ago realized that if he had to be a fighter pilot he'd rather be a full-on one, there was nothing worse than having to live with his fears of death in the cockpit for days and days between battle rostering. So the past two weeks certainly hadn't been a picnic.

_When you fall off the horse you've gotta get back on_, he reminded himself, noticing that his palms were sweating.

"Damn," he muttered aloud, wishing he could speak to Claudia, but she was on the bridge and this was hardly the time to make a personal call.

He could only hope that Rick was having a better time of it than he was.

* * *

On the bridge of the SDF-1, Claudia was watching her console screen carefully.

"We'll be reaching the co-ordinates in nine minutes, sir," she announced to Captain Gloval. "All maintenance crews are ready for offloading; did you want to send out the Veritechs?"

"Yes, send out the Skull and –"

Suddenly, an alarm began to sound.

_No, not now! Please!_ Gloval closed his eyes in prayer, but the alarm continued and suddenly Vanessa spoke.

"Scanners are picking up a group of alien battle pods entering the atmosphere. They are heading straight for us, sir, and will make contact in three minutes!"

Gloval was slightly confused. "That's it? A group?"

"Yes sir, twenty-four of them."

"Another ego trip?" Gloval wondered to himself, then shook his head, whatever was going on; there was no time to waste. "Lisa, scramble the Skull squadron, I want those aliens repelled, keep the other squadrons at the ready."

"Aye, aye, sir!" Lisa turned to her console and sounded general quarters and began to issue instructions. "Attention all pilots! Attention! We are under attack, all pilots to their battle stations, all hands to their battle stations. Skull squadron members prepare for take off, repeat…"

* * *

A rather harried looking waitress set down three plates in front of Rick, Ben and Max then rushed away into the kitchens of _The Kindest Cut_.

The special deal had meant the place was crowded and it had taken a good twenty minutes to get a table and a further half hour to actually get their food.

"**Finally**!" Ben grabbed up his knife and fork preparing to dig in.

At that moment general quarters sounded.

Rick's heart jumped as it always did at the alarm. "What? They're attacking us **now**?"

Max adjusted his glasses and got to his feet. "I guess so, we better haul, Boss."

Rick got to his feet as well, but Ben remained seated, he had cut a large piece of juicy steak and was poised to eat it. "Come on, Ben! Let's get goin'!"

"But…" Ben began, but Rick and Max had all ready started running, there wasn't even enough time to take that one bite. "Damn!" Getting to his feet, Ben turned to join his squadmates, but took one last look over at his steaming steak. "Don't you move, I'll be right back," he promised, and then broke into a mad sprint.

* * *

"Okay, boys, you heard her, we've got to draw the alien's fire, so the SDF-1 can continue to Toronto." Roy went over the orders again just to make sure everyone got them.

There was a chorus of 'Rogers' from the rest of the Skull team, including Roy's new wingman, Lieutenant Gibson. Logically, Roy was sure that the lieutenant was a good airman and a capable second-in-command, but he still wished Kramer was there.

But there was no time to think about that as the Veritechs were lifted to the deck of the _Prometheus_ and catapulted into the dusk sky.

* * *

Khyron was in his element as at the head of the group of battle pods as his Officer's Pod, powered by the booster packs, soared through the stratosphere to meet the enemy.

"Captain Zerrel, once the second wave is launched, you will attack!" Khyron gave one last order over the tac-net then turned off his radio, so he could devoted his entire being to the fight.

As expected, the micronians had sent out a small group of their fighters to intercept and within seconds missiles and explosion were raining all around.

Khyron narrowed his eyes as he took in the tactics of the squadron; they were attempting to draw them from the ship.

But his men had their orders and even though it was suicide for some of them they kept the micronians relatively close to the battle fortress.

As the fighting became more ferrous Khyron's group began to thin, but no sooner than it did than the second, larger wave of battle pods and tri-thrusters joined the fight.

The lone squadron of micronians ended up been pushed even further back towards their ship as they were overwhelmed.

Khyron let out a triumphant shout as checked his radar screen to see Captain Zerrel leading four cruisers towards their position.

"Now we have got you! This is the end, micronians!"

* * *

"Sir! The aliens are sending in four cruisers," Vanessa reported, "and a second wave of mixed mecha, three times the size of the first wave."

"Lisa, send out the rest of the fighters," Gloval struggled to keep calm. _How did we not see this coming?_ He didn't have time to berate himself, though; he had to keep his mind on the aliens. "They no doubt hope to press us into surrendering the fortress, but-"

He was cut off as one of the cruisers fired a laser that struck a direct hit upon the SDF-1 making the entire bridge shudder.

"Thundering asteroids! This must be renegade group –" he barely got that out before another shot grazed the fortress.

"Sir! Section A is reporting heavy damage," Kim called from her station.

"Should we ready the pin-point barrier, Captain?" Claudia asked.

"No, Lang has managed to create an omni-directional barrier…I did not wish to use it untested, but…"

"Aye, aye, sir," Claudia nodded, and made the announcement. "Prepare the omni-directional barrier, repeat; prepare the omni-directional barrier."

Within seconds a voice from the barrier room located a few levels below the bridge came through the speakers. "Omni-directional barrier will be up in t-minus ten seconds."

Gloval could only hope that would be quick enough.

* * *

Seloy's Quaedluun-Rau reached out and tore a hole in the skin of the besieged SDF-1, then hesitated.

"Now, are you **sure** about this, Captain, because-"

"You have your orders, Seloy!" Miriya snapped. "Leave me!"

"All right…" And with that Seloy pushed the clear capsule containing Miriya into the ship.

Then with a flare of the Quaedluun-Rau's powerful thrusters, Seloy disappeared into the night.

"Now, micronian, I will make you pay," Miriya murmured in the enemy's language.

* * *

Rick, Max and Ben had been sent out with the rest of the Veritechs to fight off the Zentraedi battle pods and tri-thrusters.

"These guys are really gettin' on my nerves," Ben announced, still annoyed over having to leave his steak. "You wanna mess with us, well-"

"Ben, look out!" Rick shouted as from four o'clock a tri-thruster came right for him.

Max, quick as ever, dispatched it just before it could take out Ben.

"Whoah, that was a close one," Ben gave a small laugh.

"Watch it, Ben, this is no time for showboating," Rick warned him.

"Roger, roger- hey what's with the light show over there," Ben pointed towards the SDF-1.

Rick and Max turned to the odd sight, around the battle fortress a huge greenish bubble had appeared, as the Zentraedi cruisers came into sight and fired upon it the laser fire was simply absorbed into it.

"They must have updated the barrier system," Rick said.

"That's a relief, the civilians will be safe," Max added.

"Right, so lets get rid of these guys," Rick ordered as he sent a missile into an incoming battlepod.

And with that the Vermillion team fought on.

* * *

Khyron had returned to his cruiser, surprising Grel.

"M'lord, I thought you were leading the Battalion."

"They can do fine without me, but what is this?" He jabbed a finger at the image of Zor's ship on the com screen surrounded by that strange bubble.

"I have no idea, sir, it just appeared out of nowhere-" Grel began.

"M'lord!" A Zentraedi tech called from the deck below. "We have identified it, it is some sort of barrier, our weapons can't penetrate it."

"What?! Damn them!" Khyron almost put his fist through the glass of the bridge.

Captain Zerrel appeared on the com screen completely confused. "What is this, m'lord?"

"It's a new weapon…those…" Khyron's body shook with rage.

"What is the plan of attack?" Captain Zerrel pressed.

"Just keep firing!" Khyron shouted, thinking if nothing else that would soothe his fury.

* * *

"This is Skull Leader to all Veritechs," Roy sent another tri-thruster into oblivion as he reported the latest from the Bridge. "The omni-directional barrier has been deployed, keep a distance of 12 miles from the SDF-1 at all times."

Roy took a look over his shoulder at the battle fortress, relieved that it was, for once, completely safe. Now he could put Claudia out of his mind.

He took a quick look on his radar; the group of alien mecha was doing its best to keep the Veritechs away from the ship now, which wouldn't be such a problem, except that the battle was moving closer to the city of Hamilton, which was completely defenseless.

"This is Skull Leader," he announced over the com net, "keep the aliens away from the city, repeat, keep them away from the city."

"Why isn't the SDF-1 firing," Gibson's face appeared on his left screen, he was sweating. "We could use some help here."

"I don't think they can, Lieutenant," Roy replied shortly, annoyed by the interruption, they had more important things to do then grumble about the lack of back up.

"Watch your three," he added, executing a quick roll to avoid the plasma fire of a tri-thruster.

Fortunately, Gibson was able to lose the bogie on his tail and take out the battle pod.

Roy checked the radar again relieved to see that finally the ranks of alien mecha were beginning to thin.

_Things are finally going our way._

* * *

"Barrier room to Captain Gloval," the tight voice of the Head Technician came over the radio. "The barrier readings are becoming unstable; we may be approaching overload status."

"Bozhe Moi," Gloval muttered, it was unbelievable, they were so close.

"This is Lang," the voice of the Robotechnology's premier scientist filled the bridge. "The barrier can only absorb so much energy; it will need at least five minutes without a direct hit in order to recover."

"Three minutes!" Claudia burst out. "They might as well ask us to wait for a century!"

Gloval held up a hand for silence. "Lisa, call the Veritechs, have them attack the lasers on the alien battle cruisers, we must disable as many of them as we can."

"Roger," Lisa nodded and quickly relayed the orders, immediately the Veritechs disengaged from the skirmishes with the alien mecha and went for the ships instead.

"Do you think they can disable enough lasers to save the barrier, sir?" Lisa asked.

"We can only hope," Gloval muttered and sent up a prayer.

* * *

"M'lord, reports from our scanners indicate that the barrier surrounding Zor's ship is becoming dangerously overheated…it appears it will fail." The tech reported.

"Aha!" Khyron's eyes brightened. "Those moronic micronians don't even know the limits of their own weapons. Captain Zerrel, continue the assault!"

* * *

Roy had commanded that all Veritechs switch to Battloid mode and use Gatling fire to take out the turrets.

But even with every pilot on it, there were just too many of them and each took at least ten seconds of sustained fire to destroy them. Meanwhile, the once green barrier surrounding the SDF-1 became more and more yellow in colour.

"Big Brother, what's going on, what's wrong with the barrier?" Rick's face appeared.

"Obviously, it's not up to sustained firepower," Roy replied, taking out another turret. "Shit, this looks bad…"

* * *

"What's going on down there?" Azonia demanded from her command chair, intel had been coming from the battle on the micronian planet. Since the battle fortress seemed in no danger she had not seen the need to interfere, but now the readings were going haywire.

"It seems the barrier erected around Zor's fortress is overloading, m'lady," Yiata reported, "it looks like it's going to explode. Should we warn Khyron to disengage?"

Azonia narrowed her eyes, thinking.

"No," she finally pronounced.

"What?" Yiata was stunned, Zentraedi may have no qualms in sending each other out to die for the purpose of war, but deliberately allowing a mass loss of soldiers was not part of their doctrine.

"He has purposely disobeyed my orders," Azonia said, coolly, "if it is the end of him, so be it."

Inside, though, Azonia's heart was pounding in the anticipation of Khyron meeting his end, of finally getting him out her midst.

* * *

Lisa's heart was hammering against her chest, she could barely breath.

Reports from Lang indicated that even if the barrier did explode, the SDF-1 would be undamaged, but their pilots…and the citizens of the nearby city of Hamilton.

"Skull Leader reports that the fighter squadrons have taken out twenty percent of the laser turrets on the alien crafts," Lisa reported, her voice sounding faint and far away to her ears.

"It's not enough," she heard Gloval say, "it won't work…"

"Sir! The enemy ships have entered the red zone!" Vanessa shouted her eyes wide behind her round glasses.

"Captain Gloval, the barrier readings are in overload! We can't sustain the barrier! We're evacuating, repeat, we're eva-"

But the sentence was never finished, it was abruptly cut off and sirens and warning lights began to flash from Sammy's and Kim's screens.

"An explosion has been detected in the barrier room, Captain!" Kim cried.

"The barrier system is expanding out! It's exploding, Captain!" Sammy screamed in horror.

_Rick!_ The name echoed in Lisa's head louder than anything else.

* * *

"All Veritechs withdraw!" Lisa's yell almost made Roy jump, so unusual was it for her to totally lose her cool. "All Veritechs clear the area **NOW**! The barrier is going to explode! It's exploding! Get out of there, **HURRY**!"

"All fighters hit the afterburners and let's get the Hell out of here!" Roy shouted over the tac-net in case any pilot hadn't got the message. Launching into the air, he pulled the 'F' tab and the Veritech immediately converted to fighter mode.

A quick look around confirmed that Gibson was in position and beyond him the rest of the squadrons were speeding away from the SDF-1, the barrier had now become a garnish red.

And then….

* * *

"M'lord! The barrier has exploded! We're going to be caught -!" Captain Zerrel's scream was cut off.

Khyron and Grel shielded there eyes as a painfully bright light filled the entire cruiser. The heat built up quickly.

"Retreat!" Khyron screamed. "Retreat before we're blown up!"

Somehow the tech's managed to input the needed instructions and the cruiser veered upwards towards space, leaving the wave of destruction far behind.

* * *

Roy's eyes scanned the radar, counting the dots and judging distances. All remaining Veritechs were in front of the wave…all but one.

"Ben!" Rick's shaking voice suddenly filled his ears. "Ben! Hit your afterburner! **NOW**!"

Those frightening words were followed by ones even more terrible.

"I can't make it, Rick! I'm too late! I-ARRRRGH!"

_No!_ Roy winced, watching as the dot that had been Ben Dixon disappeared from the screen, as Rick shouted that very word into the night.


	7. Chapter 7

"_Her kin, kneeling around, a vigil keep,  
Venting their grief in low sobs unrepressed: —  
__Friends, she but slumbers, wherefore do ye weep?"_

_One of the Dead_ – Christina Rossetti

* * *

Captain Gloval was in shock…absolute shock. 

In fact he had almost called for the corpsman at one point; certain he was going to become physically ill at his post.

Instead, he had sat in his command chair and hid his face from his Bridge Crew.

When the blinding light of the exploding omni-directional barrier had cleared there had been nothing, but devastation before them. Where once the city of Hamilton stood there were only a few burnt out husks of buildings.

"De-destruction is total, Captain," Claudia reported from her station, her voice shaking. "There are no survivors on the surface."

Sammie, Vanessa and Kim all gave gasps of horror and then one by one began to cry.

Lisa was pale and wide-eyed.

"And…the squadrons," Gloval finally found his voice.

Lisa shook herself out her daze and looked over her console readouts.

"Our casualties…are…are relatively light," she informed him.

Gloval shook his head; he had always hated that description, as if the loss of even one soldier wasn't tragedy enough.

"Call them back in."

Lisa turned to comply, but at that very moment, Claudia announced that a message from Toronto was been received.

"Captain Gloval, this is the Ontario Quadrant Central Command, permission for the offloading of your civilians is denied. Leave the area immediately, repeat, leave the area. If you do not we will be forced to open fire on you."

"What?" Lisa gasped, the Bridge Bunnies fell silent, shocked.

"**Fire **on us?" Claudia shook her head in disbelief, "they would **fire** on us?"

"Claudia, take us towards the Artic Circle as quickly as possible." Gloval ordered, impassively.

Claudia opened her mouth as if to say something, but with a look from Lisa she turned back to her console and began issuing co-ordinates and instructions to the navigation techs.

Lisa meanwhile gave the order for the squadrons to return.

Gloval ran his hand across his tired eyes, wishing that all this was just a horrible nightmare, rather than cruel reality.

* * *

Max Sterling sat in his barracks, head in hands. 

He couldn't believe it…Ben was gone…

Max and Ben had been friends since they were kids in a small town in mid-western US. Ben and his parents originally hailed from New York and the small farming town had not really been to boisterous Ben's tastes.

Max had been born and raised there, and spent most of the holidays and weekends at the local park with most of the other kids. Except Max, with his thick glasses spent most of his time alone, flying model planes through the trees and playground equipment and dodging bullies.

Then one day, a tall kid almost ran into him, pulling a kite behind him.

It was Ben Dixon, whose parents had sent him out to get-to-know the park and fly his new kite, something he'd never done before. Which was quite obvious if the way he dragged it along the ground was any indication.

"Hey sorry," Ben had said to him, in that good natured way of his. "I'm just tryin' to get this stupid thing up in the air." He gave the kite an annoyed tug. "Easy, my butt!"

Max had smiled and pointed out to Ben that the fact there was no wind was probably the reason.

Ben had looked extremely disappointed, at least until Max had offered to give him a go with the remote control plane.

It had taken Ben about two minutes to accidentally nose dive it into the pond.

He had turned to Max with a horrified look upon his round face and Max had just laughed.

From that day they had been pretty inseparable and when Max's parents had disappeared during a trip, presumed killed by anti-UN forces, Ben's parents had taken him in.

Eventually they had ended up on Macross Island, Max wasn't sure about the reasoning behind it, but the years spent watching the SDF-1 been restored and the development (well, what the public had been able to catch glimpses of) of the veritech fighters had been a very exciting time.

Ending up with the SDF-1 in the orbit of Pluto had not been nearly as exciting, more terrifying, but as long as Ben and Ben's parents were around, Max felt he had a place.

But now, Ben was gone and pall of guilt had settled over him, painful and bleak.

When he and Ben had joined the RDF and been sent to boot camp, Ben's mother had worried and with good reason. Ben was very headstrong and never looked before he leapt, Mrs. Dixon had been sure some harm would come to him. Max had sworn that he would look after Ben and make sure he always came back safely.

And for nearly a year Max had kept his promise, against all odds.

_But he was getting better,_ Max reminded himself, sure Ben made mistakes, but most of the time lately he managed to get himself out of them.

_Why? Why couldn't I help him?_ Max berated himself, squeezing his eyes shut against the tears. But that was even worse, as Ben's last words came to his ears and he saw that sickly red glow turning to white evaporating his best friend in its wake.

_How am I going to tell Mr. and Mrs. Dixon…?  
_

* * *

"It's so awful!" Minmei cried, as the Macross Broadcast News reader revealed the carnage that had accidentally been unleashed upon the people of Hamilton. "Those poor people!" 

Ordinarily, Minmei would be working not watching the news, but early that day in her make up trailer on the set, she had collapsed in a faint. Kyle had caught her, so she was unhurt, but Vance had almost had a heart attack and had her rushed to Macross General.

It had been kind of embarrassing, but it was rather a relief to be relaxing, especially since she had been discharged and was back at the hotel.

Kyle was standing behind her, his arms folded and his eyes narrowed. "Those poor people, murdered by our military leaders."

"What?" Minmei turned to face him. "It was a terrible accident, Kyle!"

"Accident?" Kyle snapped, "Ha! These mistakes **always** happen around the military and we're just supposed to accept it because it was an 'accident'? I can't believe you're so naïve."

Minmei bristled slightly, she hated been called naïve. "The military were just trying to defend us, Kyle," she objected, "if they hadn't we'd be dead now."

"They probably started the whole war themselves," Kyle continued, not the least daunted, "in fact they **did**, didn't they? Didn't they fire the first shots? What did they expect? And now thousands have died, all for their lust."

"That's not what happened at all, Kyle!"

"Minmei, please, you don't know how these things work," shaking his head, Kyle strode over to the phone in the hotel room and began punching in numbers.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to hold a press conference," Kyle told her over his shoulder. "The people of this city deserve to know the truth."

"Oh, please don't, Kyle," Minmei said, pleadingly, "I know you don't like the military, but they're only doing their best! Don't make everyone angry at them."

"Why not, they deserve it," Kyle snorted in disgust. "Get me Vance Hasslewood," he said into the phone, then continued speaking to Minmei. "One day you'll understand."

Getting to her feet Minmei retreated to the balcony of the room and looked out over the city.

Sometimes she didn't know what to do with Kyle, they had been close since childhood, but he could be so mean and condescending to her. He rarely took anything she said seriously.

Minmei looked over her shoulder in time to see Kyle striding out of the room without so much as a goodbye.

She couldn't resist poking her tongue out at the closed door.

Then she turned to the phone, she knew just who she wanted to talk to, picking up the receiver she quickly dialled a number.

"Barracks C," a distracted voice answered.

"I'd like to speak to Rick Hunter, is he in?"

"Uh, I'll page him for you Miss…"

"Just say it's his good friend."

"Yeah, OK. Just hold, please."

Minmei waited impatiently, she knew that Rick would always listen to her.

"Hello?"

"Rick, it's me, Minmei."

"Oh…"

She frowned; usually Rick was excited to hear from her. "Are you OK, Rick? Is it about the battle? It's OK…"

"No, it's not," Rick replied. "We…I…Ben was killed."

Minmei was shocked…she wracked her brain, the name sounded familiar but she couldn't place it.

Rick must have realized this from her silence because he continued. "He was my wingman…he came to your birthday party…"

"Oh no, that nice boy with the blue hair?"

Rick heaved a sigh. "No, the big one…Ben…"

"Oh," Minmei remembered Ben, who had been rather rude the first time they met, all but shoving his hand at her to be shaken. But, how awful still! "I'm so sorry, Rick."

"I feel so awful, Minmei," Rick spoke almost like he hadn't heard her. "He was a good man…I don't know what I'm going to tell his parents…they're here on the ship and – "

"Rick, it wasn't your fault, they'll understand," Minmei felt distinctly uncomfortable, she had no idea what to say. She decided to change the subject to easier territory. "I've been so busy lately, that we've hardly talked at all. You may have heard I was in the hospital, but I'm all right, it was just overwork. Um…how…uh…" She was about to ask what he'd been up to, but stopped herself just in time.

"I wish none of this had ever happened," Rick said.

"Oh, but it's not all bad, Rick," Minmei burst out suddenly, "I mean I've got my movie coming out and all."

"What?"

Minmei wanted to kick herself, that was a stupid thing to say, but she couldn't take it back now, she tried to salvage the situation. "You know, when something sad happens, you should think about the happy things and it doesn't seem so bad."

"The happy things," Rick said, faintly.

"I think about singing," she told him.

Rick said nothing for almost a minute, then. "I…sorry, Minmei, I have to go now, thanks for calling."

"But –" she thought for a moment about asking if she could meet up with him, they always got on better face to face…she knew though that Vance would not approve, and he was sure to find out since he called every night. "Goodbye, Rick…and…uh…cheer up."

Hanging up, Minmei wondered if maybe Kyle was right and she had no idea how the world worked.

* * *

Rick and Max hadn't stayed around on the decks of the _Prometheus_ once the battle was over, not that Roy could blame them, having lost Dixon. 

Roy went over the readouts of the battle, looking for ways to patch up any weakness in the squadrons defence and offence, but his mind really wasn't on it. He didn't exactly regret cracking a few jokes at Dixon's expense, but he felt bad that he had never got a chance to tell the guy how much he appreciated what his friendship had given Rick.

It also hurt that Dixon had been taken out by friendly fire. Those were the worst deaths…

Roy tossed aside the report papers and got to his feet, heading over to the computer in the corner of the Tactical Room, and began to rapidly type on the keys. He really wasn't allowed to do this, checking up on the roster of non-pilot personnel, but what the guys at the top didn't know…

"Thank God," he muttered to himself, seeing that Claudia was off duty.

Heading off the decks of the _Prometheus_, Roy headed into Macross City with a sense of purpose, although he couldn't help noticing groups of people stopped in the streets looking up at the various large screens that were scattered on buildings in the city.

On them a press pack surrounded Lynn Kyle.

"Oh great," Roy muttered to himself, rolling his eyes, "just what we need."

"Kyle tell us! How is Minmei doing this evening? Will she be able to continue making her movie?" One of the press was asking, shoving a microphone in Kyle's face.

"I have something to say about the war that's going on out there," Kyle began stridently. "I can't believe you people are here asking about a star who's simply collapsed from overwork when there's a vicious **war** going on out there!"

Roy had to agree with that assessment, but Kyle went on.

"People are dying every day, all in order to feed the egos and generate profits for the military machine that enslaves us all."

Roy stopped mid-stride almost causing someone to collide into him. "What the-"

"War achieves nothing! Peace is the only answer! We must lay down our arms and stop this cycle."

"Doesn't he realise the **other side** has to agree as well?" Roy shook his head. "He'll kill us all, idiot."

Kyle had more to say, but Roy didn't want hear it and he continued walking passed three men who looked just as bemused as he did. The rest of the crowd was hanging on Kyle's every word.

Roy reached Barracks A and headed passed the on-duty watchman with a nod of acknowledgement and headed to the elevator.

And ran into Lisa who was waiting for it, it was taking its time getting to the ground floor.

"Commander," she greeted him distractedly.

"Hey, Hayes."

Silence fell.

Roy was a little surprised, usually whenever he ran into Lisa, she talked his ear off, either about regs he broke, or one Rick had broken, or something about the aliens. Now she was just pale.

"Are you OK?"

"Huh?" Lisa seemed to forgotten he was there. "Oh, I'm fine…I…how is Rick?"

"Rick?" Roy was a bit surprised at the question, but then remembered how Lisa had visited his Little Brother in the hospital. "He made it through…Sergeant Ben Dixon didn't."

"What? Oh…no," Lisa turned her head away and Roy wondered for a moment if she was crying.

Roy wasn't quite sure what to do, this was Lisa Hayes after all…he knew she wasn't a cold hearted as the rumours suggested, Claudia was her best friend after all, but she wasn't the sort to break down in public either.

At that moment the elevator opened and Lisa hurried in, Roy following.

"You are OK, right, Lisa?" Roy asked again, "Because you seem…really upset."

"I'm…I'm fine," she repeated, still not looking at him.

At that moment the elevator doors opened and Lisa all but fled down the hall to her quarters.

For a moment Roy considered following her, but he really didn't know Lisa well enough to press her on what was wrong. So he turned and headed for Claudia's quarters.

He signalled outside, but getting no answer, used his key.

He looked about, somewhat amused to see that Claudia hadn't cleaned up all her clothes yet.

He sat down on the couch and picked up his guitar, hoping to distract himself from thoughts of the mass casualties of the day's battle, but he couldn't think of anything to play.

Thankfully, Claudia's appeared at that moment to take him from his gloomy thoughts.

"Roy, how long have you been waiting here?" She greeted him.

"Too long," he got to his feet and came over to take her hand. "Claudia, today…well…"

"What?" Claudia put her other hand on top of his.

Roy took a deep breath, and took the plunge. "Let's not wait any longer, let's get married now."

* * *

The Battle pod was ready to go and Rico, Konda and Bron were preparing themselves for their last nights on Zor's ship; soon it would be time to return. 

"I still can't believe what that micronian said," Konda murmured as he went through the micronian objects they had collected during their time. "A life without fighting? How could that be?"

"It's unbelievable," Rico confirmed with a nod.

Bron though, seemed to be considering it. "What do you think it would be like?"

Rico and Konda whirled to face him. "What was that?" They demanded in unison.

"A life without war and fighting," Bron elaborated, "what do you think it would be like."

"You can't be serious," Rico objected, "war is all we know, war is what we were made for, without it…" He trailed off.

"Without it, what?" Bron pressed. "Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad? We know that **most** of the micronians aboard this ship do not engage in combat, perhaps before we came they had never fought before!"

"Their lives must have been lacking," Konda said, but his voice lacked conviction. "After all, without conquest what is there?"

"Making things," Bron answered immediately, warming up to his argument. "Having 'fun', spending time with females."

Rico and Konda did not respond each of the Zentraedi spies had spent a great deal of time thinking of those micronian females they had 'danced' with.

Rico could still remember the intoxicating scent of Sammie, which he had since discovered was due to a micronian substance called 'perfume'. He found that same scent on a card that another micronian woman had been handing out in one of the many buildings known as 'stores'. Every night before he went to sleep, Rico would smell that card and think of Sammie…

But he would keep that to himself, certainly Lord Breetai or anyone else could never know.

"Bron, this is ridiculous," he said instead. "We have our orders, Lord Breetai will return to the fleet and we will return too. Forget the females and forget the talk of peace."

Bron looked away, then looked over at Konda, who gave a small nod.

"I was just…speculating," he mumbled, "I didn't mean it."

Rico nodded, but he didn't believe it, after all, he couldn't stop wanting to remain in the micronian world either.

What was happening to them?


	8. Chapter 8

"_Man, just __**give up**__ will ya? It's totally hopeless…besides there's plenty of fish in the sea, just forget about her. In fact I bet you will, I bet by next month you won't even remember her face." _A friend's advice to Roy Fokker about his pursuit of Claudia Grant.

* * *

Claudia was completely stunned…for a moment she thought she must have hit her head and was imagining the whole thing.

Had Roy just said he wanted them to marry right now?

"What?!" Was all she managed to say.

Roy was looking at her in dead seriousness. "You never know what's going to happen…we lost Ben Dixon today."

Claudia's eyes softened, she knew there was nothing that haunted Roy more than losing men. "That's terrible, how is Rick taking it?"

"I haven't seen him," Roy admitted, "but what I'm saying is we just don't know what could happen."

"Are you really serious?" Claudia asked, stunned.

"I am," Roy frowned, "unless…you don't want –"

Claudia laughed nervously. "Of course I do! But get married right now?"

"Well, sure, right this second if you want."

A few years ago, Claudia would have jumped at this; after all, it had taken Roy a good five years just to propose to her. She figured it would be about five more before there was a wedding.

Of course, now they were at war….

"Didn't we agree to wait until after the war is over?" Claudia reminded him.

"But who knows when that will be? In fact, let's face it, chances are against us, I mean Lisa, Rick and Ben saw it all…more than a million alien ships out there."

"Well, this is romantic…" Claudia couldn't help saying.

Roy gave her a sheepish grin. "Well, you wanted to know why…as if me asking you wasn't enough."

"You think very highly of yourself, don't you?" Claudia gave him a wink. "Why should I contribute to your swell-headedness hmmm?"

"Because you love me, I know you do," he pulled her into his arms.

Claudia found herself kissing him rather than making a glib remark.

"And I love you, of course," Roy added when they broke apart.

"Of course," Claudia rolled her eyes.

"But you're not taking this seriously are you?" Roy said, pulling her over to the couch. "Well, I am."

Claudia looked into his eyes and smiled. "In that case…sure!"

* * *

Millions of light years away from Earth an important conference was taking place between Dolza, Grand Commander of the Zentraedi and Breetai, along with Exedore.

"We've just received this footage of a recent battle with the alien fortress," Dolza began and a screen appeared at the centre of the table the three Zentraedi sat around.

As Breetai and Exedore watched, Zor's ship was surrounded by a green shield as it was attacked by four small Zentraedi cruisers.

Their eyes widened in disbelief as the green shield suddenly turned to red and expanded in a huge explosion that almost blinded them.

When the white light cleared everything around the fortress was desolate.

"These micronians are more ruthless than we thought," Dolza commented, "they were willing to sacrifice over half a million of their own kind merely to repel four small divisions!"

Exedore shook his head. "I never would have guessed…the micronians are totally unpredictable, Your Excellency."

"They are dangerous," Dolza shot back, "and it is evident that Lady Azonia does not have the skills necessary to command the assault against them."

Breetai suppressed a triumphant grin; he had always known that a female would be no match for such a tactical battle.

"Therefore," Dolza continued, "I am placing you back in command."

"I thank you, Your Excellency," Breetai inclined his head. "I would ask though that I be given command of an Imperial Fleet."

Dolza raised his eyebrows. "An Imperial Fleet? That seems rather extreme, Lord Breetai."

Breetai gestured towards the screen hovering in the centre of the table, which was replaying the footage of exploding shield. "Those are very extreme tactics, You Excellency."

"Hmmm…" Dolza grumbled and folded his arms. "Very well then, you will begin preparations to leave immediately."

Breetai and Exedore rose to their feet, saluting their Grand Commander by beating a fist against their chest.

"Yes, Your Excellency."

Dolza nodded, but as the two headed out the door he spoke. "By the way Breetai, I certainly hope you have better results this time…We are running very low on supplies, as you know, don't waste them."

Breetai bristled at this, but held his anger in check. "Certainly, Your Excellency."

He and Exedore strode quickly through the halls passed various Zentraedi who saluted.

"M'lord, do you have a plan in mind?"

"Hmmm…not yet," Breetai admitted, at Exedore's surprised look he hastened to add, "but upon our return our spies will return with information for us, we will use that to find the micronians weakness and attack it ruthlessly. Needless to say I believe we have been far too careful not to damage the ship at all…on our return we will plan a…stronger attack, no doubt Zor hid the Protoculture Matrix deep inside the ship, if a few outer layers are destroyed it will be of no consequence."

Exedore had to agree with this assessment.

The two fell silent as the climbed aboard a platform that carried them swiftly to their ship. For the more than twenty lon they had not been on it and Breetai was glad to be back, despite the fact that the command bubble on his bridge remained shattered from the path of the micronian mecha that their captives had used to assist their escape.

"We will fold immediately," Breetai announced to the techs below. "Alert the 1st Imperial Fleet."

The instructions were issued and in small bursts of light, one million Zentraedi ships disappeared from the field heading for the micronian planet, and Zor's fortress.

* * *

Rick stared at the blank page in front him.

As team leader it was his responsibility to write the condolence letter to the Dixons.

_What am I suppose to say?_ Rick asked himself. _They were both so proud of him!_

He picked up his pen and wrote _Dear Mr and Mrs Dixon…I regret to inform you that your son, Sergeant Benjamin Dixon, has been killed in combat._

_Please take comfort in the fact –_

The pen skipped over and a dark line marred the paper, followed by a tear drop.

Rick tossed the pen aside and pressed his palms against his eyes. "I'm sorry, Ben, I'm sorry!"

Getting to his feet, Rick staggered to the door of his quarters and leaned against it, anything to get away from that piece of paper.

_Hey, Boss!_

Rick jumped, startled…that voice…

_Man, don't look so down in the dumps, Lieutenant, you did your best._

Rick looked over his shoulder, blinking away tears. His eyes were deceiving him, because he could see a ghostly figure leaning against his desk, looking at the letter Rick had written.

It was Ben!

_It was just my time to go…_

Rick's heart ached at the sight, Ben was as big and good natured as he had been in life…but was he really there…was he really trying to speak to Rick, or was Rick just desperately trying to assuage his grief.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, surprising him.

"Wh-who is it?" He asked.

"It's Max, Boss…"

"Max," Rick mumbled, wondering for a moment if Max had come to berate him…after all, Ben had been Max's best friend.

"Yeah, ah…are you up for a walk?"

Rick swallowed hard, and pressed the door release.

Max's eyes were dry behind his blue tinted glasses, but he looked a little pale and much more subdued than Rick had ever seen him.

"Sure, I am," Rick answered, stepping out his room, "got anywhere in particular in mind."

Max shrugged. "Nah, let's just…walk."

So, the two set off. Rick taking one last look over his shoulder, down the corridor where Ben's quarters had been.

And he thought he saw that ghostly figure again, giving him the thumbs up.

* * *

Captain Gloval wished he could shut off the comm. screen, but he couldn't allow himself.

"I hope you are happy, Gloval," the face of General Abernoth filled the screen, staring at him with cold, unsympathetic eyes. "We warned you! But you thought you knew better and now more than half a million people are dead."

Gloval set his jaw. _If you and the Council had agreed to let the civilians off in the first place, this never would have happened._ He felt like responding angrily…but no.

"If you were any one else we'd have you on trial for High Treason in a heart beat," Abernoth went on in a sneering tone. "But Admirals Hayes and Tutsuako insisted that you couldn't have known what would happened-"

Gloval jerked in surprise…_Hayes?_

Abernoth continued. "- So we are hereby ordering to leave this planet."

"Leave it?" Gloval echoed.

"We will furnish you with as many supplies as the SDF-1 can carry," Abernoth looked as if even this simple condescension was too much. "Once this is done, you will have twelve hours to clear from the earth's orbit."

"Where do you expect us to go?" Gloval couldn't help but demand.

"Anywhere beyond the moon," Abernoth returned. "No closer."

Gloval took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. "Sir, please, I understand why you want the fortress removed and I am more than willing to do so. But the civilians, please –"

"No, Captain," Abernoth cut him off. "You are not to come with two hundred and fifty miles of any populated place. We will allow you to land in the ocean and we will deliver supplied to you there."

"But why not take the civil-"

"This is not negotiable!" Abernoth yelled, slamming his fist on the table. "The civilians are **your** responsibility! You have kept them relatively safe since the war with the aliens began. The UEG is not willing to allow the civilians to spread fear throughout this planet. The Grand Canon will soon be capable of firing and we will be able to destroy the alien fleet. After that is done you will be granted permission to return…do you understand me?"

Gloval considered objecting; after all according to Lisa's report the aliens had in excess of five million ships…the Grand Canon would be unable to finish off that many.

But he knew that the Council did not want to hear it and they were too scared of losing their grip on the world to extend amnesty to the innocent aboard SDF-1.

"Roger," he answered instead.

"We will give you ten days," Abernoth said, shortly. "Inform your crew and your civilians."

And with that Abernoth broke the connection without waiting for a salute or rendering one.

Gloval felt his shoulders slump.

How was he going to tell the civilians this?

* * *

Claudia's heart and head felt light….well, at least when guilt wasn't trying to sink them.

"Obviously," she had said to Roy. "We can't get married tonight. We've got people who would kick our asses if we did."

After making a bit of a show of pouting, but had then agreed. "You're not trying to back out on me are you?"

"If I was smart I would be," Claudia had given him a wink.

"Ha, ha."

"We have to get permission first, you know," Claudia had continued. "From the Captain."

Roy had winced. "Oh great…"

"Hey, he likes you well enough, when you're not mouthing off at him," Claudia had given him a nudge with her elbow.

"I don't mean that, I mean, when exactly are we going to find a good time to ask. In between all the funerals?"

Claudia had frowned; he was right about that…It seemed particularly callous, but then…

"Life goes on, at least, that's the idea…Maybe we should wait for a few days."

"Well, we're probably gonna have to anyway," Roy had said, "after all, we've probably all ready got our marching orders from the Brass…It'll be all hands on deck until we can get back to space."

Claudia sighed, now, shaking her head.

Though there hadn't been any reports yet, she was pretty sure that when she reached the Bridge that morning the news wouldn't be anything good.

Claudia entered the elevator, wondering where Lisa was, before Roy had left the night before, he had mentioned running into Lisa and how upset she was.

That morning, Claudia had attempted to call her friend, but Lisa was not in her quarters, even though she was not due for duty until 0800 hours.

The elevator reached Bridge level and she headed down the hall to the hatch door, ducking as she entered.

To her surprise, Lisa was not there, she checked her watch. It was fifteen minutes to 0800, but usually Lisa could be counted on to show up even an hour early for duty.

Sammie, Vanessa and Kim were there, extremely subdued.

"Hi, Claudia," Vanessa greeted her, looking up from the threat board.

"Hey girls," Claudia replied in a low voice, "how you all holding up?"

"We're fine," Kim said.

"I can't stop thinking about the people of Hamilton," Sammy burst out, her big eyes filling with tears.

Claudia put a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "I know it's just not fair."

Silence fell.

Then Claudia cleared her throat. "Have you girls seen Lisa this morning?"

They shook their heads.

Claudia felt a stab of worry and considered sending out a page for her friend.

But at that moment the hatch slid open and Lisa appeared, looking haggard, with dark circles under her eyes and her hair nowhere near as neat as usual.

Claudia went over to her immediately. "Lisa, honey, are you OK?" She asked in a low voice, putting an arm around her shoulders.

Lisa nodded, but refused to meet her eyes.

Sammie, Vanessa and Kim were watching with concerned eyes, Claudia gave them a brief look then led Lisa a few feet away.

"Honey, you can talk to me," Claudia told her quietly. "Please tell me."

Lisa looked up at her with haunted eyes. "I keep seeing them, Claudia," she said her voice so low, Claudia had to lean forward to hear. "Those people…"

"I know, I know," Claudia had deliberately thought of just about anything else the night before, just so she could get to sleep.

"Maybe we should do what Kyle says," Lisa said then, "I saw him…giving his conference…maybe we should just lay down our arms."

"Honey, we'd have to negotiate first," Claudia reminded her, "otherwise…well…they'd just wipe us all out."

Lisa's eyes stopped looking haunted, instead they simply looked empty.

"Maybe that would be the best thing."

* * *

Miriya had expected to be able to adapt to life aboard Zor's fortress very quickly, after all, she was a Zentraedi.

But the micronian way of life was something she simply hadn't anticipated.

Unlike the ships of the Zentraedi, the space where the micronians congregated when not on duty was a dazzling array of lights and sounds.

Micronians in a variety of uniforms that made no strategic sense bustled about and most sickening of all, males and females mixed!

She had been deposited upon the ship dressed in nothing but an improvised toga; it had not taken her long to see there was no way she could continue in **that**.

Fortunately, the micronians had been careless enough to leave articles of their uniforms hanging on ropes outside their buildings. The reasoning for this was something Miriya could not determine, although at this point she didn't really care.

She had grabbed as many as she could carry and now, dressed appropriately or close to it, she was able to examine the micronian buildings more closely.

She watched as the enemy crowded around tables and were served by other micronians what she could only assume was food, but it looked nothing like the rations she was used to. Odd smells filled the air.

Many of the micronians appeared anxious, however, but Miriya to her embarrassment had not picked up the language well enough to understand why.

She had memorised one line in particular, but had not yet had a chance to speak it, but she ran it over in her mind now. _Hello, I am looking for a pilot, I am not sure what rank he is, but I'm sure he a leader of an attack group, do you have any information?_

Miriya was distracted by the sight of vehicles pouring down what the micronians around her called 'streets'. The vehicles appeared to have no offensive or defensive purpose, but from behind her she heard a male micronian say. "This is it, then? They're giving us the big kiss-off."

Another male answered. "At least they're gonna love us before leavin' us."

Miriya shook her head. _Complete nonsense is all these micronians can talk of!_ She thought, sneeringly.

But that word 'love', it was a word that she had heard spoken about more often than just about anything else. She did not understand it though, it did not describe a weapon, or a place, she had briefly believed it to be a form of address, since many micronians said it to each other, but that did not seem right either.

_Perhaps it is a code_, Miriya mused, stopping and looking more closely at the vehicles, wondering if they word pertained to them.

But what was she doing? She was here for a military purpose; she was here to destroy the pilot who had defeated her. What did she care of what the rest of the micronians did? Especially since they appeared to be slaves, she was quite certain she hadn't run into a single combatant since her arrival!

_No wonder they are so pitiful_, she thought, cruelly as she continued on her way, pushing by one of the short micronians that so populated the place.

Once she got rid of the one who had bested her, she was sure the rest of them would crumble like the weaklings they were.


	9. Chapter 9

"_Goodbye to bad rubbish!" _Remark attributed to Colonel T.R Edwards on hearing that the SDF-1 had left Earth's orbit.

* * *

In between the mad preparations to leave Earth, Roy had barely had time to sleep, let alone speak to Rick about his loss.

It was only on the morning of Ben Dixon's funeral that he managed it.

Rick was standing at an observation deck, watching the still steady stream of incoming supplies arriving.

"Hey, Little Brother," Roy put a hand on his shoulder.

Rick looked up. "Oh, hey…"

"Tough week, I guess."

"Yeah…"

"Look, I'm sorry about Ben, I know you've probably heard that a million times," Roy said.

"Actually, I haven't," Rick looked up at him, "every other pilot I've run into…well they just haven't said a thing…even Max."

"Well," Roy shifted a little uncomfortably, sometimes it was hard with Rick, even though he had been a combat pilot for almost a year there were still a lot of things about the military he didn't really get. "That's kind of…that's just what combat pilots do."

"What? Ignore a comrade's death?"

"In a way, yes."

"What the Hell for?" Rick snapped. "They just don't care? That whoever it was deserved what they got?"

"Of course not," Roy objected, "look, it's a war, so many die out there… the guys, it's just a way of coping you know."

"Well **I'm** not coping."

"I imagine not," Roy admitted, "it has its drawbacks."

"I'm sure it makes holding a funeral hard," Rick drawled sarcastically.

"They really don't forget, you know, I remember every man I've lost in combat-"

"**Every** one?" Rick looked surprised.

"Yes I do, and as you might imagine it's not particularly something you want to talk about."

"There must have been…hundreds of them," Rick continued still stunned.

_Thanks for rubbing it in_, Roy almost said, but bit his tongue. "Max will probably talk about it, but you don't have to go around announcing it all over the place."

"Right…" Rick sighed, "but I don't know if I can talk to Max, I sort of…I just…I couldn't write to Ben's parents, I couldn't meet them…I let Max do it instead." He bowed his head.

"Hey, come on Little Brother, don't beat yourself up, I've done the same thing."

Rick looked at him as if he didn't believe it. "Yeah, right."

"Of course, I have, geeze, you think when I lost my first wingman it was just another day on the job? That guy had a girlfriend on board, he had parents and five brothers and a sister at home. You think I wanted to tell them what happened? Hey, I came back alive, but your son, brother, boyfriend didn't, sorry about that? I had no idea what to say, or what to write, so what did I do?"

Rick shrugged.

"Nothing. At all. Not a damn thing, until his girlfriend showed up at my door wanting to know where he was."

Rick was stunned. "Uh…what did you say?"

"I had to tell her of course," Roy looked out over the ocean. "Let me tell you, it was a million times worse than I thought. At least you had the foresight to send someone else."

"I uh…that's rough…"

"Well, I wasn't trying to one-up you or anything, I'm just saying, that every pilot has trouble with it and it's unspoken rule that its downplayed as much as possible. Just keep that in mind."

Rick nodded.

At that moment the _Taps_ began, signalling that it was time for the funeral to begin.

Putting an arm around Rick's shoulders the two headed off to the deck of the _Prometheus_ to farewell Ben.

* * *

Lisa had kept mostly to herself for the passed few days, only briefly taking calls from Claudia.

She was still upset about what had happened in the Ontario Quadrant, but her grim words of a few days ago seemed like the words of someone else. She knew that she couldn't give into grief; it was what Karl would have wanted for her.

Now, she was standing outside Captain Gloval's office, having seen the official United Earth Council helicopter depart. She knocked on his door and was admitted.

"Hello, Captain, I just saw the emissary leaving, we've received our official orders then?" She greeted him.

The response was sharp. "Yes."

Lisa was taken aback, at his tone. "Sir, is everything all right?"

The Captain turned to her, holding his pipe with white fingers. "No, it's not, Lisa."

She was surprised to see him this way; Captain Gloval was always so cool and calm. "Uh…can I get you a drink, sir?"

"Please," he nodded.

Lisa went to the cabinet and poured some wine for them both, as she handed him his glass she asked again. "What were the orders, sir, do we-"

"We've been ordered to leave the Earth, Lisa, civilians and all…"

Lisa sighed. "Well…it was to be expected, I guess…"

"But it is not just that," Gloval shook his head. "We've been told to act as a decoy, to draw the aliens away from Earth...and if we are killed in the process and the civilians with us, so be it."

"Sir, can they do that? I mean, there's conventions-"

"They've all ready done it," the Captain answered her, walking over to the phone and dialling a number.

"Lieutenant Grant," Claudia answered from the Bridge.

"Listen to me, Claudia; I want you to begin preparations to leave Earth quickly and quietly."

There was a moment's pause. "**What**, sir?" Claudia gasped.

"We are to leave the Earth's atmosphere in two hours, there is no time to waste, do you understand?"

"Roger, sir, will you be coming to the Bridge to oversee the preparations?"

"No, I have to speak to the civilians, first," Gloval sighed. "Lisa will be coming with me, as well."

"Yes, sir."

Gloval hung up and turned to Lisa. "All right, now, are you ready?"

Lisa swallowed hard. "Yes, sir."

"Let's go then…"

* * *

Rico and Bron had finished loading the battle pod with every artefact they had got their hands on during their stay aboard Zor's fortress.

Meanwhile Konda was cooking up a meal over a camp stove, likely to be their last. Radio transmissions they had picked up from the battle pod's communication system indicated that Commander Breetai was returning.

"OK, you guys," Konda called, "it's ready!"

"All right, what are you trying to poison us with today, Konda?" Rico asked as he and Bron jumped down to the deck.

"It's fish soup," Konda replied, good naturedly, "and you'll be fine."

"Hmm…I dunno," Bron laughed as he accepted a bowl.

"Smells good though," Rico was willing to admit.

"Come on, try it," Konda encouraged them, and took a big spoonful.

The other two followed suit. "Wow that **is** good!" Bron commented, digging in.

"Yeah, your cooking has got so much better," Rico spoke, taking another spoonful himself.

"Thanks."

"Now I only get indigestion about an hour later," he added, nudging Bron and the two burst out laughing.

"Oh, ha, ha," Konda rolled his eyes.

"You know, this thing the micronians call 'joking' is a lot of fun." Bron spoke up.

"I'll say!" Rico nodded, licking his lips. "It was never like this back on the command vessel."

"Yeah, everyone was just in it for themselves," Konda remarked, "I mean think about it, before we came here we didn't know anything about each other. We never spent time in each other's company. And well…I don't mind saying that I'm enjoying the time we spend together. I…like you guys, as the micronians would say."

Rico and Bron looked slightly surprised, then they turned to each other and smiled. "Well, hey, we like you too, Konda," Bron waved his spoon.

"Yeah, except when you're givin' us indigestion."

"You know…you two are starting to…what's the expression, 'beat a dead horse' with that joke."

"Oh, get a grip," Rico laughed with a wave of his hand. "But you know what," he sighed, "we're not gonna be able to do this when we get back to the ship."

The other two fell silent.

"We always knew that," Konda remarked, "we sure haven't talked about anything else for the last few lon."

"Heh, except for Minmei," Bron spoke up.

"Yeah, Minmei's great," Rico sighed.

"I can't believe we won't be able to listen to her anymore," Konda shook his head. "I love her songs!"

"Yeah, they make everything seem so bright and happy," Bron smiled.

"Yeah, what do we get to hear back on ship," Konda rolled his eyes. "The dripping of cooling fluid and the sound of marching."

"We'll always remember them though," Rico spoke up, trying to lighten the mood again. "We could sing them ourselves! Like…karok!"

"I think its karaoke," Konda corrected.

Bron leapt to his feet. "A world of things we've never seen before! Where silver suns have golden moons!" He bawled.

Rico put his hands to his ears. "Ugh, stop! That's terrible."

Bron shut his mouth with a look of embarrassment.

"Maybe you can practice somewhere, **quietly**," Konda grinned, "if I can became an ace cook, I'm sure you could become an ace singer."

"Really?"

"Sure," Rico nodded, and winked at Konda, "just remember that word…**quietly**."

* * *

"Married? **You**?!"

"Thanks for that vote of confidence, pal," Roy rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, but since when do **you** think marriage is a good idea."

"Hey, I've never had a problem with it…well, with other people doing it, at least."

"Exactly," Rick remarked, with a grin.

"Look, are you gonna ride my butt or are you going to give the appropriate response."

"Wasn't that the appropriate response?"

"Funny, Rick, so funny."

Rick held up his hands in a show of defeat. "OK, OK, congratulations, when's the big day?"

"I really don't know, to be honest," Roy shrugged, "I mean, you can't just get married anytime you want in the military."

"Geeze, I'm surprised they don't tell us when to go to the bathroom," Rick rolled his eyes.

"They don't? Someone hasn't been passing on all your orders to you."

"Let me guess, though, you're telling me this because you want me to be your best man, since hey, I'm the best."

"And so modest, of course," Roy rolled his eyes, but then gave Rick a slap on the shoulder. "But yeah, that was what I had in mind."

"Well count me in…if I'm not on duty of course."

"Here's hoping for the two of us."

"But aren't people who are married not supposed to serve on the same ship?" Rick suddenly pointed out.

"Well, unless they throw one of is in a dinghy out back they really don't have much of a choice."

Rick gave a laugh and was about to say something in return when suddenly their pagers went off.

"Oh, what? I'm not even supposed to be on today."

"Well, it's a 999, so you're on now, let's get going."

As Rick hurried off at Roy's heels he had to wonder how anyone would find time to get married.

* * *

Minmei had been preparing to give her weekly live performance on the MBS when Captain Gloval showed up with an entourage of military personnel.

"What are they here for?" Kyle snapped from Minmei's right.

"I dunno," Vance muttered, pushing by them, "I'll go find out."

"It's bad enough they dictate everything we do," Kyle sneered, "now they've got come and ruin your performance, too."

"It's OK, Kyle," Minmei put a hand on his arm, hoping to prevent him from making a scene.

Vance returned from a heated discussion with Gloval's people.

"Well, it looks like we've been pre-empted," he told the dryly. "The Captain has an announcement to make."

Minmei was curious and watched as Captain Gloval got into position in front of the cameras.

"OK, everybody," one of the MBS camera men called, "settle down! We're goin' to air in three…two…."

"Hello people of Macross City," the Captain began, his cap pulled low over his eyes. "I…stand before you today to give you regretful news…as you know ten days ago the mayor of Toronto withdrew his permission to allow you to offload. Since that time we have been hoping that some other government would agree to give you asylum. I stand here before you to tell you that no such permission has been granted. In addition to this, we have been given orders by the United Earth Council to leave Earth immediately…." He paused for a long time.

Minmei looked around; everyone was staring at the Captain with fearful eyes.

"We have been told that if we do not do so, we may be subjected to attacks from elements of our own Defense forces."

There were cries of "What?!"

"I don't believe it!"

"It can't be true!"

Minmei looked over at Kyle, but he seemed just as stunned as the rest of them.

* * *

Tommy Luan was looking at the TV, his mouth opened wide in complete shock.

"They can't do that!" His friend, Vern was on his feet, shouting at the TV as if the Captain could hear.

"With no country willing to accept you therefore, you will be joining us on our return to conflict with the aliens."

"Oh, no!" Vern's wife who was sitting on Tommy's other side put her hands to her mouth.

"I know your patience and your bravery have been severely tested since the initial attack upon Macross Island and our long voyage home, I can only beg you to keep that patience and bravery," Captain Gloval continued. "Because it is up to us to defend Earth from alien attacks, it is we who will have to fight on, for the good of all of those on Earth, even though they do not know the sacrifices we are to make for them."

"Wha-" Verne looked ready to go on with another diatribe.

"Ssh!" Tommy held up his hand for silence.

The Captain at least deserved to be heard out.

"I can't believe this," Sammy was saying as the Bridge Bunnies and Claudia hurried to get the ship ready for take off. "I can't believe we're been sent away!"

"Well, we don't have much choice," Claudia remarked over her shoulder as she hurried about flipping switches at her and Lisa's station. "We've been given our orders."

"But that's so unfair! How could they do this to us?!"

"Well, let's be realistic," Kim spoke up, "we did destroy a whole city."

"That was an accident! We couldn't have known it would happen." Sammie cried.

Vanessa looked over at them. "I don't think they really care."

"But someone must be able to do something!" Sammie insisted. "Wait! I know, Lisa's father is on the council, why doesn't she speak to him?"

Kim stared at her as she spoke, but then her eyes darted to the front of the bridge as Claudia made her way towards them.

"She can just call him up and tell him that we need help and ask him to –oh!"

Claudia leaned over right in her face. "Sammie, don't you **dare** bring this up with Lisa! She's had enough trouble with her father without you putting pressure on her like that! We've been told to leave with the civilians aboard and so we will, you got that?"

Sammie who had sunk in her chair stunned, gulped. "Yes…"

"OK, then," Claudia smiled at her, and then at Kim and Vanessa. "Let's go this ship won't take off by itself."

* * *

Gloval was struggling; he couldn't bear to meet the eyes of anyone in the room for fear of what he'd see there. "I hope one day that you will be able to forgive us…the military, for what we are asking of you. I pray that you will still give us support and for that we will…" He tried, valiantly to clear the lump in his throat. "We – the military- will strive to protect you as we always have."

He had more to say, but he couldn't…the tears that had been stinging his eyes spilled forth and he could not speak through them. His shoulders began to shake. How could he ask this of civilians…?

And suddenly someone was beside him; someone was laying a hand on his arm.

"Everybody, I think it's only right we should support the Captain and the rest of the RDF in this!" It was Minmei. "It's not their fault we're been sent away, and if anybody can get through it, we can! After all, for over a year we've been here on this ship and we've come through. In fact, we've done more than that, we've flourished! I don't know about the rest of you, but I think of this ship as my home now and I think of you all as my family! I have so many friends here and I love you all. I think that together we can win this war and come back to Earth, until that day though, we'll band together here on this ship and make the most of it."

Gloval looked up and saw that everyone in the room was nodding, that Minmei's words were getting through. And then as Minmei walked to stand in front of the observation window that reflected the beautiful Earth night, Gloval felt another hand on his shoulder.

It was Lynn Kyle, head of the Anti-War movement.

"You can depend on the civilians, Captain," was all he said before turning to look at Minmei.

* * *

Perhaps all was not lost after all.

"Wow," Rick whispered, distracted by the MBS broadcast he had tapped into. Minmei's face filled the screen and her words were inspiring.

But at the same time, they represented how far she had risen, how far she had moved from him. Would he ever have a chance?

"Hey, Rick," Roy called, interrupting his thoughts.

"Huh?" Rick looked down, on deck Roy was giving directions to other pilots to secure their veritechs before take off.

"We've still got things to do here, you can get all weepy eyed over your girl when your off-duty!"

"I'm not weepy eyed," Rick objected, surreptitiously wiping away a tear.

"Yeah, sure," Roy rolled his eyes and turned away, "just get on with it. Hey, you watch out with that!" He shouted to a rookie pilot across the hanger. "You don't want damage your own plane, we've got plenty of aliens out there to do it for you."

"Yes, sir!" The rookie squeaked.

As Rick reached out to turn off the tac-net he heard Minmei dedicate a song to Earth and to the hope they'd return.

"Here's to you, Minmei," he murmured as he was forced to turn his mind back to his duty.

* * *

As Minmei sung hopefully however, flashes of light beyond the moon signalled that the Zentraedi were grouping en masse.

"We're detecting a huge amount of disturbance in radio waves and the infra-red spectrum, Captain!" Vanessa called as Lisa and Gloval returned to the Bridge.

"A fold?" Gloval asked, raising his eyebrows.

"It's worse than that, sir, its multiple folds…**thousands** of them!"

"The aliens must be sending reinforcements," Lisa spoke up as she went to her station.

"Maybe not!" Sammie cried, "Maybe they're coming in peace!"

Everyone turned to stare at her in complete disbelief.

Sammie blushed. "Um…right, probably not."

"Well, I guess it's up to us to draw them away," Gloval grumbled as he sat in this command chair.

"Claudia, begin take off sequence!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" Claudia called. "All hands prepare for take off, navigation ensure all co-ordinates are set and entered, all sectors ensure airlocks have been sealed."

With all orders confirmed, Claudia pulled the thrust lever and with a great shake the SDF-1 lifted out of the ocean and rose swiftly in the air towards the stratosphere.

Lisa watched as the earth receded, the view port showing first the sea, then tracks of land covered with lights from the cities of Earth.

_Who knows when we'll see them again…?  
_

* * *

  
Rico, Konda and Bron had struggled with the controls of the battle pod, blasting a hole into the skin of Zor's battle fortress and launching through it into the ocean. Their signal had come and it was time to go back.

Reaching rocks that served as a launching pad, the cockpit of the battle pod detached from the legs with a burst from a secondary engine, sending them up into space.

"This is 2nd Officer Rico reporting to Lord Breetai," Rico called over the radio as they headed for the co-ordinates of the defolding of the Zentraedi Imperial Fleet. "We have succeeded in our spy mission and are returning to the ship."

"Message received, Officer Rico," a tech's voice crackled through the speakers, sounding extremely loud to the micronised Zentraedis ears. "Lord Breetai eagerly awaits your report."

"We will make contact with the ship in three hundred mil," Rico continued, "and are prepared to undergo macronisation immediately."

"3rd Officer Karita will be ready," the tech affirmed.

"Yes, sir!"

He returned his mind to manning the controls of the pod, until he noticed what Konda and Bron were staring out the face plate.

He looked to, do see Zor's battle fortress heading into space as well. For one desperate minute, Rico actually thought of steering back to the ship, returning to the life they had discovered.

He shook his head to clear the thought. It was ridiculous! What was he thinking? What were **they** thinking?

"Hey, you two," he called sharply, "let's make sure we keep on course, huh?"

"Oh, right," Konda turned back to the navigation instruments.

"Of course," Bron added, returning his attention to the thruster's ratio panel.

Rico nodded and the three continued for their ship.


	10. Chapter 10

"Macross City Productions _is proud to present the first movie ever made entirely on board a space ship, _Small White Dragon! _This masterpiece starring our own _Miss Macross, _Lynn Minmei_ _and karate black-belt Lynn Kyle will thrill all ages. Buy a ticket now!"_ Promotional flyer for _Small White Dragon_.

* * *

The Bridge Bunnies were giggling with excitement.

"Oh wow!"

"This is so romantic!"

"I can't believe you didn't tell us 'til now!"

"Well, we've been pretty busy," Claudia held up her hands in protest.

"How did he do it?" Sammie demanded, "Did he get down on one knee and have a jewellery box and everything?"

"That was when he **proposed** to me, dear."

"So, when is it happening?" Kim demanded, bouncing in her seat. "Can we be bridesmaids?"

The other two had, surprisingly, not considered that and they gave out squeals of excitement.

"Oh yes! Please, Claudia!"

"We'll pay for our dresses!"

Claudia held her hands for calm. "Woah, woah, calm down, we're looking for a small wedding, it's hardly the time for unbridled celebration."

"Of course it is!" Sammie leapt to her feet and clasped her hands together. "It's just the thing to cheer up the Captain! He's going to officiate isn't he? Oooh!"

"He'll wear his full dress uniform and so will Commander Fokker," Kim jumped up to, "and so will the other men at the wedding! Oooh, I love the dress uniform!"

"Now –" Claudia made an attempt to break in and stem the excitement.

"My favourite part is the medals," Vanessa announced. "You can tell the bravest ones that way!"

The three girls giggled amongst themselves.

"Hey!" Claudia clapped her hands. "Let's calm down, huh? Nothing's been arranged yet, we haven't even spoken to the Captain yet, he might not allow it."

"Why not?!" Kim demanded, looking personally insulted.

"Yeah, Captain Gloval's no meanie," Sammie protested.

"No he isn't, but as I'm sure you've noticed there's a war going on out there and the aliens have just brought back their reinforcements, all one million of them. Now isn't the time for relaxing."

"Sure it is!" Vanessa objected.

"Yeah, it's when times are toughest that you should celebrate the most." Kim said in a wise tone.

"I think you should get married as soon as possible," Sammie nodded.

"Well, not this weekend I can tell you that much," Claudia told them good naturedly.

The Bridge Bunnies looked confused.

"Minmei's movie is coming out; don't you want to see it?"

"Ooh," the Bridge Bunnies leaned towards each other. "Lynn Kyle!"

"But we can't go," Vanessa frowned.

"Yeah, we're on duty," Kim sighed.

"It's totally unfair!" Sammie pouted.

"Well, Opening Night will be a total sell out, but we could all go the next day." Claudia suggested, offhandedly.

"Yeah! It could be your Hen's Night," Sammie took the idea and ran with it. "We could go to this little club afterwards, it's called _Soar_."

Kim and Vanessa burst into giggles.

"And what does this club involve?" Claudia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, you'll see." Vanessa drawled.

At that moment the hatch opened and Lisa entered.

"What's all this?" She greeted them.

"Oh, it's so exciting!' Sammie burst out, before Claudia could even open her mouth. "Claudia and Commander Fokker are getting married!"

Lisa's eyes widened in surprise, she turned to her best friend. "You are?"

"Nothing's set," Claudia waved a hand, "the girls are just speculating."

"She just needs to ask the Captain," Kim remarked.

"Excuse us, girls," Claudia took Lisa's arm and lead her back out of the Bridge. "Um, sorry about that."

Lisa tilted her head. "Why?"

"Well, I really should have told you first, but it sort of slipped out."

Lisa laughed, shaking her head. "I'm not surprised."

"You're not…" Claudia wondered if she should even ask… "**upset** are you?"

"Why would I be?"

"Well," Claudia shrugged, about to say it, but thought better of it. "I don't know, I just thought you might be."

Lisa smiled. "No, I'm happy for you. Let me guess, though, you've got your bridesmaids taken care of?" She pointed toward the Bridge.

Claudia rolled her eyes. "They've offered to pick up the tab at least."

Lisa laughed and shook her head.

"But you'll be my Maid of Honour right?" Claudia put a hand on her shoulder.

Lisa hid behind her hair, suddenly shy at the suggestion. "Well…I guess so."

Claudia grinned. "Great! And I won't even make you pay for your dress."

* * *

"Drink up!" Roy announced, raising a glass of beer and taking a long swallow.

"Uh," Rick looked at his uncertainly.

"It's not poisoned, you know," Roy laughed, "at least…I hope not."

"It's not that, I'm just not a big fan of beer…" Rick defended himself.

"No-one ever is at first."

Rick sighed.

"OK, what's got you down in the dumps?" Roy demanded.

"Oh, nothing."

"Please, I'm not an idiot, come on, spit it out."

"Well, Minmei's movie is coming out tomorrow, they're having a party at the Hotel tonight…"

"What do we have that hotel for anyway," Roy asked, idly, "it's not like you can't get home."

Rick glared at him. "This is serious."

"OK, OK, Minmei's movie is coming out tomorrow, and…?"

"Well, how am I ever going to have a chance with her?" Rick took a small sip of his beer, made a face and then pushed his beer aside.

"Huh? I don't think I've had that much to drink, but I'm not seeing the connection."

"I'm just a fighter pilot and she's the darling of this ship! What would she see in me?"

"Gee, Rick, no need to beat yourself up," Roy patted his shoulder, "there's plenty of things for Minmei to see in you, least of all you saved her life, gave her you medal of valour and all that."

"I don't think she remembers those things," Rick shook his head.

"Geeze that must have been some collapse from exhaustion then, you don't usually forget things like that."

"Well, OK, it's not like she's **forgotten** more like…well, not that she doesn't care…it's just…" Rick struggled to articulate the problem.

"She doesn't take you seriously?"

Rick shrugged.

"Well, she's just a kid; you can't really expect her to." Roy finished off his beer then gestured to Rick's.

Rick pushed it over to him. "She's not **that** much of a kid, I mean when I was her age I'd won –"

"Yeah, yeah the Amateur Flying Competition four times in a row," Roy rolled his eyes. "I hate to break it to you to you, Little Brother, but that by no means meant you weren't still a kid. Hell, I was still a kid until I went to war."

"But we **are** at war, Roy."

"Well, it's not quite the same for Minmei, it's not like she's been in the cockpit of a veritech while aliens have been coming at her from all sides trying to take her out." Roy pointed out.

Rick tapped his fingers on the bar. "So I should just give up and go home?"

"Did I say that? I'm just saying, maybe Minmei isn't ready for a relationship, that being the case…well…there's not much you can do, but suck it up."

"So you are saying forget it."

"Well, OK, for the meantime then," Roy shrugged, taking a swig of beer from Rick's glass.

"I'm still going to go to the premier tomorrow," Rick declared, stubbornly, then asked. "You want to come?"

"Nah," Roy shook his head, "I'm not up for paying twenty bucks."

"Cheapskate," Rick poked his tongue out at him, "and I paid for that beer too."

"Hey, I'm probably going to have to pay for a wedding soon, I need to save everything I've got." Roy reminded him, then he picked up a bowl of nuts and placed them in front of Rick. "But hey you can have these."

"Gee, thanks."

"Don't mention it, I know I'm a stand up guy," Roy patted Rick on the back.

* * *

Captain Gloval had been invited by special invitation to the party at the Centinel Hotel.

Ordinarily, he wouldn't go to this sort of event, but he felt he should seeing as how Minmei had rushed to his defence.

But the party was as boring as he expected, attended mostly by those in the media, the actors, the politicians who had been caught up in the space fold and a few other people Gloval hadn't even been aware were on the ship.

One who he **had** been aware was on the ship, Jan Morris, runner up of the _Miss Macross _pageant, was talking his ear off.

"It really is quite amazing, Captain, what the stars can tell us, why I knew **days** before your announcement that we were leaving Earth. But you can rest easy, we **will** return to Earth…I'm not quite sure when, Sagittarius is being difficult and –"

Gloval tuned her out and looked about for Minmei, thinking perhaps he could thank her again for her help then make some sort of excuse to get out of there. But she was nowhere to be seen.

"Captain Gloval!" Tommy Luan called from the other side of the room; he had two punch glasses in his hands and held them up in Gloval's direction.

"Oh, it's the mayor," Gloval interrupted Jan, "I really must speak to him, have a good evening."

Jan polished off almost an entire glass of wine in one swallow and waved him off.

"Thank you, Mayor," Gloval greeted the man once he was in earshot. "The conversation I was in…well…"

"Yes, Miss Morris has become undeniably odd since her defeat," Tommy said off-handedly.

"So…how are the civilians holding up?" Gloval asked, it had been little more than a fortnight since the SDF-1 had left Earth, but it felt much longer to Gloval, busy as he had been.

"Oh, same ol' same," Tommy waved a hand, "you know what they say, you can't keep us down."

"I'm relieved," Gloval sighed, "I will never understand the UEG's reasoning."

"Eh," Tommy shrugged, "politicians, what can you do?"

At that particularly moment Councillor Clarke, a representative of the British Government came by with two plates stacked with food.

Tommy winced, worried that perhaps he'd been overheard, but Councillor Clarke just looked over at Gloval.

"Hello, Captain! Good night, hmm? Smashing food here," Clarke held out one of his plates for Gloval's inspection.

"I've had some all ready," Gloval told him, "it's very good."

"I'm sure it's no good for me, eating all this," Clarke continued, almost to himself. "But we never do know when we will go, do we?"

"Uh," Gloval stalled, not sure how to answer that, but thankfully Clarke had all ready moved on heading for a lone table in the corner.

Gloval turned back to Tommy Luan wanting to ask more about the civilians, but at that moment a voice called. "Tommy!"

"Ooh, the ol' ball and chain calls," Tommy laughed, "been good talking to you, Captain, enjoy your evening." With a wave he disappeared into the crowd.

"Hmpf," Gloval muttered to himself, wondering if there was a balcony somewhere, since typically there was no smoking inside the Hotel. _At least that's not an order, since it's surely an impossible one._

_

* * *

  
_

Rico, Konda and Bron had made their report to Lord Breetai and Exedore, showing off the various micronian treasures they had brought back.

They hadn't been able to get through the whole report however, since hearing about micronian life seemed to be too much for the Great Breetai and the three spies had been dismissed.

But for the first time, the three spies had not be honest with their Commander, not only had they glossed over some of the aspects of micronian life they were sure neither Breetai nor Exedore would approve, they had kept a few of their souvenirs for themselves.

Prized among them was the Minmei doll, which contained the singer's two hit songs.

It had not stopped there, though, the three had decided to show some of their fellow troops what life was like on the micronian ship.

And now, three of them were around a table in a conference room, watching in awe as Rico, Konda and Bron explained them.

"So one of these shows images of a non-combat nature?" One of the green-uniformed Zentraedi, named Tezel, demanded in disbelief, holding a tiny video tape in his hand.

"Uh-huh," Bron nodded, "they have places with thousands of these, and the micronians are free to take them for entertainment."

"'Entertainment'," the second Zentraedi, Mardul echoed, pushing back a lock of greenish-black hair off his forehead. "I don't understand, aren't they too busy practicing for combat."

"That's the thing," Rico spoke up excitedly, "most of the micronians **don't** engage in combat."

The three Zentraedi almost fell off their seats. "What?!"

"They're slaves?!" The third Zentraedi, Furel, demanded.

"No, they're not," Konda shook his head. "They just don't participate in combat; instead they create the entertainment for the other micronians and rebuild things."

"Re…build?" Tezel asked, confused by the word. "You mean…they can fix things?"

"Yes!" Bron cried excitedly, as Rico and Konda nodded. "They can build new things too and for meals they make all sorts of things."

"They don't have rations?" Furel shook his head as if he couldn't believe it.

"Nope! We had heaps of things! In fact, Konda here even learnt how to prepare some of them." Rico spoke with a grin.

The three looked at Konda in awe. "Wow."

Mardul became intrigued by the Minmei doll. "What about that? Is it a micronian? Why doesn't it move? And why is it so small?"

"It's not a micronian, it's a doll, a representation of a micronian, and in this case, it represents Minmei."

"What's Minmei?" Tezel asked, leaning close to look at the doll.

"She's a micronian female, who sings to the micronians aboard Zor's ship." Rico told them.

"'Sing'? What's that?" Furel asked.

"This." Bron reached forward and very, very carefully flicked the switch on the back of the Minmei doll.

_Zoom, Zoom_

_Zoom, Zoom_

_My boyfriend is a pilot, he's a pilot now!_

_He soars through the skies_

_So free, but he passes me by_

_As I wait for him to call me._

_But he'll be back you'll see!_

_Zoom, Zoom_

_Zoom, Zoom_

The three Zentraedi jumped back in their chairs, shocked at first at the sound of music and singing coming from the doll.

"What is it for?" Tezel gestured toward the doll.

"Entertainment!" Rico, Konda and Bron said in unison.

"The micronians seem to spend a lot of time on this 'entertainment'," Tezel remarked.

"They do," Bron nodded, "but then that's because it's fun. It's fun to listen to music and watch non-combat images."

The three Zentraedi, as if in agreement, were listening to the Minmei doll completely enthralled.

_I love him, he loves me,_

_But sometimes I think he loves his plane more,_

_All he wants to do is soar._

_Zoom, Zoom,_

_Zoom, Zoom_

_My boyfriend is a pilot, he's a pilot now!_

_

* * *

  
_

Miriya stalked down the street, micronians parting before her, once they got a look at her face.

_Where can that micronian be? How could the greatest warrior aboard be so impossible to find? Surely honours and awards should be heaped upon him…these micronians make no sense._

She flung back her green hair in annoyance, wishing she could strike out without falling under suspicion.

As she rounded the corner she almost collided with a group of micronians, all in a line.

The one in front of her whirled around. "Hey, watch –hey there."

It was a male micronian and he was looking at her in a strange way, a way that many males seemed to look at her on this ship.

Miriya's first instinct was to glare at him, but then she reconsidered, she knew micronians only lined up to see something important. _Perhaps…?_

"Excuse me," she said to the male instead, "what is going on?"

The male laughed, "I'm surprised you don't know, honey, this is the line for _Small White Dragon_, Minmei's movie!"

Miriya was confused at been addressed as a food item, which was another thing that happened a lot when she confronted male micronians. She dismissed it however.

"It's a big event," she observed.

"The biggest! Say, I'll let you cut in front of me, huh? What do you say?"

Looking at the long line that snaked around the corner, Miriya didn't think it would really make a difference, but then taking advantage of these males was a satisfying activity, with combat denied to her. And all ready a dozen micronians had lined up behind the one she was speaking to.

She nodded. "Why thank you."

"Don't mention it, we'll share a popcorn, hey," the male said, stepping back to let her in front of him.

Miriya merely nodded, but really had no intention of staying with this male and sharing 'popcorn', what ever that was.

The line slowly inched forward, and Miriya tried to listen to the various conversations around her. A movie, she had figured out was a series of images, like battle footage, it stood to reason then, that this _Small White Dragon_ was about the micronian who had bested her! Micronians seemed to enjoy attaching pointless names to everything.

_And Minmei_, Miriya continued her trail of thought, _must be the micronian who defeated me. Well then…I'll have you now._


	11. Chapter 11

"_Cease! I can't take anymore of this information! My head is spinning, what is it about these micronians?"_ Lord Breetai, Commander of the Zentraedi, on hearing Rico, Konda and Bron's spy report.

* * *

Max Sterling had not actually planned to go to Minmei's movie, especially not on the premiere, but his new wingman, Joseph Hart had all but dragged him.

"C'mon, Max! This is the opportunity of a life time! The first movie filmed in a space ship," Joseph had babbled, propelling him down the street to the long line snaking out of the Macross City Entertainment Hall.

"Yeah, yeah, I've read the promotional flyers," he had broken in, then held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "OK, OK, I'm in, stop pushing me."

"Success!" Joseph had cheered as they joined half the population of the SDF-1.

"Yeah, if we can get in," Max had murmured looking about at the mass of people.

"Oh, we will," Joseph had been sure.

And some how he had been right.

The line had disintegrated once they got in the foyer and the ticket sellers had seemed more inclined to give tickets to RDF personnel than the average Joe.

Max felt slightly guilty, especially since he wasn't sure if he'd actually enjoy the movie, but it was too late now, he and Joseph were all but boxed in. The theatre was filled to bursting point.

"You know, isn't there something called a fire code?" He asked Joseph looking around.

"Eh, we'll be fine," Joseph had purchased a large tub of popcorn, which he held out to Max. "Help yourself."

"Thanks," Max took a handful, as he munched he looked about for Rick; sure his friend would be there. Max had attempted to call him from his and Joseph's place in the long line, but had got no answer.

"I hope the previews won't be half an hour long," Max commented.

Joseph laughed. "I think we can safely say they won't be."

Maybe not, but it looked like it would be a while for the movie to start, people were still filing into the theatre, it looked like they were selling 'standing-room'.

"Wow, this movie is gonna bring in some serious dough."

"Kinda makes you rethink your choice of a career, hey?" Joseph agreed, taking another mouthful of popcorn.

Max grinned. "No way!"

* * *

Miriya had managed to lose the male who had let her in front of him and was now sitting between to females. Each of the females seemed to be with the males beside them…they were holding **hands**.

Miriya suppressed a shudder; she could not imagine any reason to do such a thing and wished sincerely she was back in her cruiser with her Quadronos.

Then her eyes hardened, if she was back with her Quadronos it would be without her mecha and for that, the micronian ace would pay.

_Soon,_ she thought, _very soon._

At that moment the long pieces of fabric at the bottom of the large room opened to reveal a large comm. screen.

Miriya leaned forward in her seat, anxious for the footage to begin running, but instead a micronian female walked to the centre of the stage in front of the screen. Whispers erupted around her.

"Ooh, it's her!"

"It's Minmei!"

Miriya frowned. _Minmei is female? Hmmm, I shouldn't be surprised._ She was though, intel had indicated that the micronians fought with mostly males, doubtless they were more expendable.

"Hi, everyone!" Minmei called waving. "Welcome to the first showing of my movie _Small White Dragon_!"

A great cheer rose up from everyone.

"A lot of people helped put this film together and I'd like to thank them all, especially my co-star Lynn Kyle!"

There were more cheers as Minmei gestured for someone and a second later a male with a long mane of black hair appeared.

Miriya was confused by all the noise. She had been a recipient of many awards herself, but it had never been like this. The female Zentraedi would stand in a circle around her, silent as Lady Azonia presented the medal.

"The movie is almost ready to go, but before it does I'd like to sing the theme song for you."

Miriya was startled as the lights in the room dimmed, except for one that illuminated Minmei and then…

Miriya felt a chill run through her…the female…she was doing something…something with her voice…

_He is the Small White Dragon!_

_He is the greatest warrior,_

_He can fight like no other._

_He can save us all!_

Miriya wanted to put her hands to her ears to block the sound out, but a quick glance around showed that would be a very suspicious move. All around her micronians were smiling and nodding their heads, they **enjoyed **this, like Miriya enjoyed battle.

Minmei finished and there was wild applause.

"What a great song!" The female beside Miriya cheered.

_Song_, she repeated to herself. _A weapon?_ She speculated.

She didn't have time to think about it anymore because Minmei left the stage and all the lights went out, the comm. screen lit up.

The footage began.

* * *

In Breetai's ship non-combat movement was going on, word had spread that Rico, Konda and Bron had artefacts from the micronians, amazing artefacts that had to be seen to be believed.

A large group had congregated in the meeting room the three spies had claimed for their presentations.

It was fortunate that this room had a comm. screen, since it enabled them to tune in to the footage that had been picked up from Zor's ship.

"What is it?"

"It looks like footage from the micronian's planet."

"What are those odd uniforms they're wearing?"

"Now, now," Bron called above the questions, "the point of this is to **watch**, if you talk through it all you'll miss the story."

"'Story'?" Karita, the macronisation/micronisation tech, looked over his shoulder.

"Yeah, it's what entertainment is all about, the micronians tell about their adventures, stuff they've done before," Rico explained, "sometimes other micronians re-perform these actions for the others to see."

"Oooh," the other Zentraedi's crowded in the room replied.

Minmei appeared on screen, running up a male and grabbing his arm.

"Why is she doing that?!"

"Ssh!" Konda hissed.

"Is that Minmei?" Mardul asked, pointing.

"Sure is," Rico nodded, "now be quiet!"

Silence fell except for the faint soundtrack of the movie as it unfolded before their eyes.

* * *

"What is this, Exedore?" Breetai leaned forward in his chair, trying to follow the footage.

"It appears to be a battle record m'lord," Exedore answered, his lips pursed. "A very old one judging from the lack of technology shown in it."

"Hmmm," Breetai grunted, watching as a long haired male bowed to another and then launched into a series of kicks and flips. "They are surprisingly agile," he observed, "I'd have thought their structures would be too weak for such a thing."

"Perhaps it is something they developed…a weapon," Exedore mused, his mind full of the old records the Robotech Masters had entrusted with him, and the warning they contained against attacking any micronian planet. Perhaps…

Exedore let his thought trail off as he continued observing the footage.

His small black eyes widened in surprise as suddenly a huge, hulking being appeared on the screen, about the size of a Zentraedi. The being was dressed primitively and had no weapons, but it fought quite effectively none the less, crushing micronians and destroying buildings in its wake.

_Could it be? Our ancestors?_ Exedore examined the footage for clues, but none were forth coming.

"A Zentraedi!" Breetai exclaimed, seeming to have read his aide's mind. "The war that almost destroyed our race was fought with these **same** micronians?"

"The records are not specific, m'lord," Exedore admitted, "but this footage seems to indicate so."

Breetai put his fingertips together beneath his chin in a pensive manner. "Hmmm…"

On screen the giant being spotted the micronian female, reaching out he grabbed her.

The micronian male, who had been running, stopped in his tracks, whirling to face the giant.

"Zu-Li!" He shouted.

"Forget about me, Ku-Lun!" The female cried in a high voice. "Run! Save yourself!"

The giant turned and ran, the micronian male following, but only until it became clear he would not catch them.

"Zu-Li," he whispered, strange trails of liquid coming from his eyes.

The footage faded out, then came back showing the male micronian racing through the woods, occasionally leaping up into the branches of trees to track the wake of destruction left by the giant.

"Why is the micronian so willing going to face a far superior foe?" Breetai suddenly demanded.

"It seems to be a habit of theirs, m'lord," Exedore speculated, "and thus far they have been amazingly successful."

"But how?" Breetai growled. "How did they defeat us that first time?"

"I believe we will not have to wait long for the answer, m' lord, all we need do is keep watching."

* * *

In the Macross City Entertainment Hall, Miriya was doing the same thing and was just as confused.

_Evidently that female is no match for a Zentraedi, armed or otherwise, it is the male who is the warrior._ Her eyes narrowed as she watched him on screen, dodging the primitive weaponry of fellow micronians, who appeared hell-bent on stopping him.

_He shows remarkable skills,_ Miriya admitted to herself as the micronian in question leapt into the air, executed a back flip onto a tree branch then leapt off it again as a volley of small spears were launched at him. _It would stand to reason, though, this footage must be tens of thousands of lon old. The micronians must live for a __**very**__ long time, no wonder they are such impressive warriors._

Miriya was also intrigued by the giants in the footage, who by all appearance were Zentraedi.

_So those are our forebears,_ she thought, as a group of the giants appeared on screen, she had only ever heard legends about them.

The ancient Zentraedi had taken the female micronian, the one who had 'sung' before the footage began, and who oddly went by a different name. He was now showing her off to the other Zentraedi, who were grouped around a fallen cruiser.

They were all intrigued by the female, who took in the whole thing with terrified eyes.

The Zentraedi spoke in an incomprehensible language, the ancient form of their current one, Miriya supposed. The micronians seemed to have translated it, but she could not read the brief flashes of micronian text that appeared when the Zentraedis on screen spoke.

At that moment there was the sound of branches rustling and running footsteps.

The long haired male had appeared and with a defiant shout, he launched himself at the giants.

In the crowded theatre those around Miriya gasped, then groaned as the giant who held the female swatted away the male as if he were a fly, leaving him crumbled on the ground.

With a low rumbling laugh the group of Zentraedi left with the female, who was now sobbing.

* * *

Lisa shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot; she was enjoying the movie, at least until her feet started hurting and forced her to shift position.

The manager of the Macross City Entertainment Hall was someone she'd almost call a friend and he had agreed to let her in to the see the premiere when she had had discovered she would be off duty and had called him.

Unfortunately, the crush had been so great she'd been unable to get to her allocated seat, which had no doubt been taken by someone else.

But she had wanted to see Lynn Kyle, the man who so reminded her of her beloved Karl, so she had stayed.

And now, she was distracted from her aching feet by the beautiful shot now on screen of Kyle. He was surrounded by light and was walking through a pristine ancient Chinese village to a temple.

A venerable robed man appeared at the top of the steps and Kyle ran up to him, embracing him and talking in his soft, but strong mannered way.

Lisa closed her eyes and saw Karl, as he read to her from Ghandi's works, his brown eyes warm and bright, his voice throbbing with conviction.

_Oh Karl, how can I forget you?_ Lisa wondered, unconsciously titling her head back.

Her reverie was broken as she was jostled by someone, her eyes snapped open and she was back in theatre, watching as Ku-Lun's old master coached him on the power of the _Small White Dragon_ from the Great Beyond.

* * *

Exedore had lost track of time, something he never did, as he became absorbed in the footage. Much of it didn't make sense to him, like how it jumped from place to place and how it picked up all the ancient Zentraedis movements.

_I suppose they were tracking the female,_ he speculated.

The micronian male, who a moment ago had appeared to be in some building of significance to his race, was now back in the woods and was after the giants.

"What does he hope to accomplish?" Breetai demanded, getting to his feet. "The Zentraedi have all ready shown how easily they could kill him."

Exedore shook his head. "I am as stymied as you are m'lord, surely they-" But he broke off as the most unbelievable sight filled the screen.

The male micronian had caught up with giants and with an indecipherable howl; he leapt high in the air, slicing his hand out in front of him.

And from that hand burst a bolt of energy!

It hit the Zentraedi leader square in his chest, causing him to drop the female.

Then the male micronian was in frame, foot outstretched kicking the giant square in the chest and sending him falling to the ground.

"What in Zor's name was that?!" Breetai cried, his one eye widening in something that was almost fear. "Exedore -?" He turned to him.

"It…it appears to be some sort of energy release, powered by the micronian himself!"

"That's impossible!" Breetai spluttered.

"Then that must be the weapon," Exedore said, almost to himself. "The weapon that the Robotech Masters warned us of. Protoculture in its pure form."

Breetai turned to him, his bluish skin pale. "We **must** stop them, Exedore; we cannot allow them to rediscover that weapon!"

"It may be too late, m'lord," Exedore pointed to the comm. screen, "this footage could be a sign they all ready have."

* * *

Had Breetai and Exedore looked beyond their Command Post they would have seen the group of Zentraedi now packed in the room Rico, Konda and Bron had commandeered.

And they would have known that the images from Zor's ship were just fantasy, a story put together for the benefit of the audience aboard the vessel.

"Wow, how did they **do** that?" One of the Zentraedi still wanted to know as the micronian on screen decimated the group of giants with energy pulses from his hands.

"They call it 'Special Effects'," Konda explained, "it's not real; they put it in later with their computers."

The Zentraedi, Kalul, a navigation tech, thought this a particularly odd use of technology, but became too caught up in what happened next to question it further.

The giants defeated, the male micronian ran to where the female had fallen.

She lay in heap, silent and unmoving.

"Zu-Li! Zu-Li!" The male took her up in arms, the Zentraedis watching, except for the three spies gasped in utter astonishment. "Please, speak to me! Tell me you're all right!" He touched her cheek.

"How- how," one Zentraedi stuttered.

"Why-" another began.

"Sssh!" Bron hissed.

The female's eyelids fluttered, then opened. "Kun-Lu, you came for me…you rescued me."

"I could do nothing else, oh, Zu-Li, my Zu-Li."

And then the male placed his lips on the female's.

A startled shout rose from the crowd of Zentraedi.

"What are they **doing**?!" Tezel cried.

"They're pressing lips, it's a micronian custom," Rico explained. "They do it all the time, it's practically **required**."

"And…and that is Minmei?" Kalul asked again, pointing a shaking finger at the screen.

"That's right, we saw her all the time when we were on Zor's ship."

"She does not look…quite as we expected," Furel said, unable to tear his eyes from the screen.

"She's in costume there," Konda explained, "she looks much prettier in reality."

"Did you…did you ever press lips with her?" Asked one of the Zentraedi in the crowd, faintly.

The three spies caught each other's eyes…surely a **little** untruth couldn't hurt.

"Oh sure," Bron bragged.

Now that the lip pressing on screen had stopped the crowd of Zentraedis had turned around to stare at the spies open mouthed.

"Many times," Konda affirmed.

"I thought my lips would fall off from been pressed so much," Rico laughed.

At that moment the battle alert sounded.


	12. Chapter 12

"_For the first time in recorded history, Zentraedi felt they had better things to do than fight! We did not realise it at the time; of course, if we had we would have taken swift action to prevent it from spreading further."_ Quote from Exedore Formo's War Notes

* * *

Miriya had viewed the unfolding scene between the male and female micronians in abject horror.

The touching had been bad enough…but the pressing of **lips**!

She had wanted to turn away, but her body had felt frozen, unable to comprehend what was unfolding. _It is even worse than the 'song', than the energy pulse from the micronian's hand!_ She cried inwardly, it seemed to violate everything she'd ever known.

The sickening thrall of the image was thankfully broken when a micronian sitting in front of her suddenly jerked to his feet, blocking her view.

Those around her were not in the least relieved, in fact they shouted angrily at the male.

"Hey siddown!"

"Get out of the way, buddy!"

"Don't make me come down there!"

The micronian ignored them, turning he swiftly pushed his way into the aisle and dashed towards the back of the theatre.

The male and female on screen were no longer pressing lips, but he was carrying her in his arms as he ran through the trees.

_Why are the female micronians so __**weak**__?_ Miriya wondered, still slightly dazed. _Could the lip pressing be a weapon used by the males against __**them**__? And for what purpose?_

Miriya did not have much time to wonder about it, because at that moment a shrill alarm sounded and the comm. screen suddenly went black.

There were more shouts from the micronians around her, but then a female voice announced.

'All civilians evacuate! Repeat all civilians to the nearest shelter! We are under attack! Modular transformation will commence in one minute. Repeat-"

All around her micronians were leaping to their feet and spilling into the aisles, rushing for the back doors.

"Come on, let's go!" The female on Miriya's left shouted.

Miriya hurried to her feet and was soon swept up in the crush of bodies, and was propelled out of the huge room, her feet barely touching the ground.

Being in such close proximity to males as well as females was intensely uncomfortable, but the flow did not stop, not until the pack she was in had left the huge hall of the building, crossed the street and gone down a flight of stairs to a lower level of the ship.

Then the crowd dispersed and Miriya found herself in another large room, with recessed shelves in the walls stuffed with an odd array of unidentifiable objects.

A wave of unease crashed over her. _Where am I? Why are we here? Do the micronians know I am not one of them?_ She looked from face to face. _Have they all been sent to kill me?_

_

* * *

  
_

On the Bridge, Sammie, manning Lisa's post in her absence was almost going to pieces.

"A small attack group is coming from…from…"

"Niner seven point two," Claudia called to her.

Sammie repeated the information.

"Roger," came Roy's voice, "flying to intercept."

Meanwhile Sammie's replacement, Laura and Kim were giving reports from within the ship.

"Section 18 is reporting heavy damage," Kim called.

"Block A is reporting a loss of gravity," Laura announced.

"Oh no! It's all my fault!" Sammie was almost in tears.

"Calm down, calm down," Captain Gloval said from just over her shoulder where he had position himself. "Everything will be just fine, keep the veritech squadrons updated on the enemies movements, that's all we can do."

Sammie nodded, but wished desperately someone would rescue her from **her **predicament.

As if reading her mind, the Captain asked. "Claudia, any word from Lisa?"

"Negative, sir," Claudia shook her head, "she was last seen at the movie premiere, she must have been herded into a shelter."

"Hmmm, I see," Captain Gloval rumbled.

Sammie was far less calm she clasped her hands together in a prayer. "Oh Commander Hayes, please get back soon!"

* * *

Lisa, however, was going nowhere, of all the rotten luck, who should run into her; **literally**, as she fled the theatre in the wake of Minmei and Kyle's on-screen kiss, but Lieutenant Hunter!

Since, his release from Macross General, Rick had had little if anything to say to her. He had barely acknowledged her words of condolence on Ben Dixon's death and certainly had not gone of his way to speak to her off-duty. Evidently, he was too wrapped up in Miss Macross.

So when he had grabbed her from behind she had been more than ready to land one right on his kisser.

But the streets had been so crowded with those who had not got into the premiere, but had stuck around in the hope of seeing the stars leaving, that she had let him off not wanting to humiliate herself.

Now, the two of them were trapped in a tiny space created by two servo blocks.

"Well, this is just great," she said now, arms folded, "you **really** have a top sense of direction, Hunter. How'd you get in the RDF again?"

"Hey! Don't blame this on **me**," Hunter snapped from his position as far away from her as possible.

"If we had gone to a shelter like **I'd** wanted we wouldn't be in this mess!"

Lisa merely hmpfed, since privately she had to agree with him.

A few long moments passed.

"So," Rick said, slowly, "what were you doing out on the town?"

Lisa bristled slightly at his tone, but seeing as how they were trapped together, decided to **try** and be polite.

"I was at the premiere; I know the manager and he got me a ticket."

Rick looked completely stunned. "**You** at a kung-fu movie?"

"For your information," Lisa snapped, hotly, "I have a life beyond the Bridge. Does it shock you **that** much that I like to see movies?"

Rick shrugged, seeming not to realise how much he was pushing it. "I've always pictured you as the home-all-alone type."

"And I've always pictured you as a complete numbskull!"

"Hey, you don't need to yell," Rick held up his hands. "I'm just saying I've seen you all but **three** times in Macross City since I've met you."

"And the first time you were looking up my skirt!"

Rick blushed a fiery red. "I was **not**! I dropped my shopping! **Why** would I look up your skirt? You've got nothing I want to see."

It took all of Lisa's self-control not to go over to Hunter and knee him in the groin. "How nice of you to say," she said instead through clenched teeth. "You're not a person I want to see either, at **all**."

Rick glared at her then looked away. "Fine, if that's the way you want it." With that he slumped to the floor putting his arms around his drawn up knees and looked away from her.

Lisa felt a prick of discomfort. "Look, Hunter, there's no need for us to act like children. You just need to think before you speak."

Rick didn't answer.

"You know, you can't be expected to be taken seriously if you're going to act like a child."

Still no answer.

"And you're acting like one right now, Hunter," Lisa's voice got higher with anxiety, "a big spoiled brat, is that how you want the world to see you?"

Rick was silent.

Lisa dropped to her knees. "Rick, please, answer me," she gulped down a wave of fear. "I get insecure when people won't talk to me," she admitted, almost in a whisper.

"Huh?" Rick turned to here with a look of utter surprise. "**You **insecure? Give me a break."

"I'm not a robot," Lisa objected, hiding behind her hair, "no matter what you think, I like to have company."

"Well, uh…" Rick looked embarrassed, "look, I'm sorry I said what I did. It's just I can't believe we're trapped here like this."

Lisa gave a small smile. "I know, it's almost like been back on that Zentraedi battle cruiser."

"Well, at least we know there won't be any giants trying to crush us here," he looked up through the small gap above them, but there was nothing to be seen or heard.

"What do you think they've attacked us for **this** time?" Rick turned to here.

"It's hard to say, isn't it?" Lisa shrugged. "Their command structure seems to have collapsed in the time since they first attacked us." She was in her element discussing war strategy and tactics. "They seem to have spilt into two groups, the large one seems to think that this Protoculture we allegedly have needs to be taken back, but the smaller group disagrees."

"Yeah, well, the smaller group still has enough fire power to take us out," Rick pointed out, morosely.

"They do," Lisa nodded, "but they haven't succeeded so far, because the larger group always intervenes. If anything we should thank them, otherwise we'd be dead now."

"Forgive me if I don't send a card," Rick said sarcastically, but as the sarcasm wasn't directed at her, she laughed.

"I can agree with you there!"

* * *

"Man, what a drag," Joseph declared, "not to mention a rip off! Just at the best part of the film."

Max was laid-back about it, having got used to combat interrupting everything and anything in life.

"Well, you win some, you lose some," he said to Joseph with a shrug, then he folded his arms behind his head and leaned back against the wall.

"I hope we get our money back, at least," Joseph remarked.

Max just nodded, absently, his mind on the battle outside; he wondered how it was unfolding and who was out there.

Suddenly, a flash of green caught his eye.

Since the start of the millennium weird and wacky hair colours had been the norm. Just about anyone who was a natural blond was unnaturally something else.

But Max had never seen such a vibrant shade of green before.

And the woman the hair belonged to…

_Wow, where have you been all my life? _Max's eyes widened behind his glasses.

The green haired woman was stunning, dressed in an odd ensemble consisting of dark green knickerbockers, a tight fitting purple vest over a white ruffled blouse, white stockings and a pair of dark green high heeled mary janes.

She carried herself like she owned the place and seemed to be in deep though, Max tried his best to catch her eye, but uninitiated in flirting as he was, he was not too surprised when he failed to and she strode right by.

Joseph was staring after her, too, but more in surprise than in admiration.

"Nice," Max whistled, almost to himself.

* * *

In Skull One, Roy was trying to figure out what on Earth the aliens were playing at this time.

The small attack group seemed to be playing 'catch me if you can'. They had started at the SDF-1 full blast, but now were slowly retreating as if trying to draw the veritechs into a trap.

Of course, having recognised this, Roy had ordered his men to keep well back and at the same co-ordinates as the SDF-1, so the alien cruisers would not be tempted to fire on them for fear of destroying what they were there for.

Finally, the aliens realised that the humans were not about to fall for something so obvious and began to withdraw in earnest.

"Should we pursue?" Gibson appeared on Roy's left side screen.

"Negative, Skull Two, we're not here to tempt fate," Roy replied, shortly.

Once Gibson disappeared from the screen, Roy shook his head. He'd never get used to having that guy, rather than Kramer.

"SDF-1 to Skull Leader," Sammie appeared on screen, "all veritechs return to base."

"Roger that," he smiled and unable to resist, gave the girl a wink.

Sammie's cheeks went bright red and she gave a surprised giggle.

Roy relayed the order to the rest of the men and turning sharply, the veritechs headed for home.

Roy though, took one last look over his shoulder at the retreating enemy and wondered if anyone would ever understand their tactics.

* * *

"I am sorry we are out of 'Get us outta here you stupid machine', please reorder."

Rick felt like banging his head against the wall, not only had the stupid cola machine **not** gone to for help, it had continued to circle the crevasse and repeat that phrase over and over.

"We can rebuild an alien star ship, but we can't shut that thing up?" Rick snapped, pointing a thumb up in its direction.

Lisa shrugged. "You shouldn't have yelled at it."

Rick looked at his commanding officer, who was surprisingly stylishly dressed in a long white coat, green pants, yellow turtleneck and red boots. No matter what her story was, Rick was still curious about why she had gone to the premiere.

"So, come on, spill," He spoke up, startling her a little, "what's the **real** reason you went to see _Little White Dragon_? I can't **believe** you're a big kung-fu fan, or a Minmei one for that matter."

Lisa's cheeks were faintly pink and she folded her arms across her chest. "Think what you want."

"Well, you **obviously** have a crush on someone in the movie," Rick continued his speculation. "Hmmm, let's see," he tapped his forefinger against his lips and his mind raced back to a few months ago, when he'd brought Minmei and her cousin back from Yokohama. "I know its Kyle, isn't it?"

Lisa jumped and turned from him so he couldn't see her face. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Oh, come on, don't be shy, if you ever wanted to prove you're not a robot, this is it," Rick laughed. "And its Kyle you just can't resist, his long black hair and kung-fu fighting," he whistled a few bars from the song.

"Well, what about you?" Lisa whirled to face him. "**You're** supposed to be in love with Miss. Macross, aren't you? Haven't seen you two together lately."

Rick's shoulders slumped. "You're right; Minmei barely knows I'm alive anymore."

Lisa didn't say anything.

"You left the movie for the same reason I did, you couldn't stand to see the person you're in love with kissing someone else. What a joke."

Lisa didn't agree, but she didn't deny it either.

"Minmei's a lost cause," Rick acknowledged, "but we had something once. Kyle, though, how could you fall for someone so totally anti-military?"

He was surprised when Lisa actually answered him and moved by the pain in her voice.

"He reminds me so much of my fiancé; he had to go away, to Mars to get away from all the fighting on Earth. He died there before I had a chance to be with him again."

Rick went to say something, but Lisa continued, her voice thick with tears. "Whenever I see Kyle's face, I see Karl's and I miss him so-"

"Don't cry, Lisa," Rick begged his own eyes stinging with sympathetic tears. "Please don't." He rifled through his pockets and pulled out his handkerchief. "Here take this."

Lisa took the handkerchief with a small sob and pressed it to her mouth before drying her eyes.

"Thank you," she said, "I'll have it dry cleaned."

"Don't go out of your way or anything," Rick told her, "it's just a handkerchief."

Lisa gave a wavering smile and then blew her nose before pocketing the handkerchief.

"I guess that's love," Rick said, returning to the original topic, "but what can you do?"

"I wish I **could** do something," Lisa murmured, "I hate feeling this way, I wish it would stop."

"Hey," Rick laid a hand on her arm, "don't be like that, it's better to have loved and lost than never loved at all, right?"

Lisa turned to look him right in the eye. "Do you really believe that?"

Rick found his thoughts drifting as he looked at Lisa, her thick brown hair, her sad green eyes, her lips…

"Uh…"

Lisa seemed entranced too and slowly they began to lean toward one another.

"Attention!" Sammie's voice blared, making them jump, "the attack has ended, the ship is now returning to its normal configuration. Thank you for your patience and remain safe."

Suddenly, the servo that had blocked them in retreated, revealing a corridor, a way to the city streets above.

"Thank God **that's** over," Rick cheered, jumping to his feet.

"Oh, thanks a lot," Lisa made a show of looking affronted.

Rick laughed and held his hand out to her, she took it and he helped her to his feet.

"Well, it wasn't **all** bad, you're not as strict as you appear to be," he smiled at her.

"And you're not as dumb," Lisa joked back.

"Come on, let's get going," Rick rolled his eyes and dropped her hand, taking a step forward.

"On second though, why don't **I** lead," Lisa said, stepping ahead of him.

* * *

Sammie was looking at Claudia, slightly wary, but Claudia just rolled her eyes.

_Honestly, Fokker, you're __**such**__ a flirt_.

Vanessa and Kim were giggling while Laura just looked non-plussed.

"You're such a boy-stealer, Sammie!" Kim called, waggling her index finger at her best friend. "And to have a go at Claudia's man!"

"I was not!" Sammie protested. "Oh, Claudia, you know I wasn't!" She turned to her. "I'd never go after Commander Fokker, especially since you're getting married and all."

Captain Gloval who had returned to his command chair suddenly looked up.

"What?!"

"Oops," Sammie put her hands to her mouth and Vanessa and Kim fell silent.

_Oh, Sammie_, Claudia thought, shaking her head.

The cat was out of the bag, the Captain go to this feet and walked over to Claudia. "What's all this?"

"Well, I **was** planning to leave it to a more appropriate time, sir," she dodged a glance at Sammie, "but, well, I ask permission to get married, sir." She saluted, smartly.

Captain Gloval stroked his moustache. "Married?" He repeated.

"Yes, sir, I know we're in a war, but well, you've got to take the bull by the horns, as they say."

"To Commander Fokker," the Captain seemed to need clarification.

Claudia began to feel slightly nervous, had she read the Captain wrong? Was he going to flip his lid over this? "Uh, yes sir."

Silence reigned over the Bridge, a truly out of the ordinary occurrence.

Then a smile creeped across the Captain's face and he reached out to give Claudia a hug that almost took her off her feet.

"So you finally got him to do it?" He cheered, laughing. "Congratulations, my dear! Congratulations!"

Vanessa, Sammie and Kim clapped their hands together in excitement.

"Oh, see Claudia! We told you!" Sammie cried. "Captain Gloval's just as happy as we are!"

The Captain nodded.

"Oh, it's going to be great!" Vanessa cheered.

"Especially with you officiating, Captain!" Kim blurted.

Captain Gloval stopped mid-laugh, his eyes widening.

"Whaaat?" He asked again, staring at Claudia.

Claudia clapped a hand to her forehead.


	13. Chapter 13

"_Love makes the world go round" _Mid-20th century song title

"_Love Stinks_" Late 20th century song title

* * *

Azonia had been in a foul mood ever since Breetai's return, but Yiata could not really blame her, having been present to see Commander Breetai so coolly brush off Azonia's command and her attempts to make a report.

Since then, Lord Breetai had not deigned to contact the Commander of the Female Zentraedi, but Khyron had been more than glad to.

An alert sounded, indicating an incoming transmission.

"From Lord Khyron, m'lady," Yiata informed her, "shall we ignore it?"

Azonia ran a hand through her dark blue hair in any annoyed gesture. "No, let us see what the cretin has to say."

Yiata sighed, but patched the transmission through.

"Well, well, well, Lady Azonia, worn out from lons worth of combat," he drawled.

"About the same amount of combat as **you** have had, Lord Khyron," Azonia returned, icily.

"Commander-in-Chief Dolza was not pleased to hear of your failures," Khyron prodded, ruthlessly, "why I've heard that your command may be withdrawn and handed to another…more **worthy** candidate."

Yiata was unable to suppress a small thrill of hope, if that were true, perhaps His Excellency would choose…**her**.

"It doesn't surprise me that you would engage in mindless speculation, my Lord," Azonia began, a cold smile curving her lips, "the first part is something of a talent of yours after all."

Khyron's eyes narrowed dangerously and for a moment it looked as though Azonia had bested him.

But Khyron was not one willing to take defeat, so with a laugh he went on the offensive. "You of course have **no** talent for speculation of any kind; otherwise you would have seen your failure coming."

Azonia jumped to her feet. "Now, you listen to me!" She yelled. "Speculation or not, my rank still supersedes **yours**! Continue to taunt me and you will find yourself on trial for treason, don't think I wouldn't do it!"

Khyron though, seeing how he had angered her had had enough; an almost innocent smile had spread across his face. "Why, I don't know what you mean, my Lady Azonia, I am merely passing on information to a comrade of a higher rank. Do you mistrust me so?"

Azonia did not answer, at least not to his face, with a strangled grunt she signalled for the transmission to be cut. Once it was, she spoke. "I would not trust you for all the ships in the Armada."

* * *

Minmei wasn't sure if the day could be called a success or not.

On the one hand, the Premiere had been a sell-out, but on the other an alien battle group had attacked three fourths of the way through it!

Of course, the movie was now showing for the second time and just as many had come for that! Even some of those from the original audience, who had of course, been invited back to the Entertainment Centre to see the rest of the film after they had been allowed to leave the shelters.

Minmei was still a little shaky, though, she and Kyle had somehow got lost trying to find a shelter. They had been caught up in the transformation and for the second time in her life, Minmei had found herself dangling hundreds of feet in the air!

As she had hung there, Kyle grasping her arm and pulling her to safety, Minmei had remembered that first time and in the confusion thought it was Rick saving her. She had seen is face and almost called out to him, but then she had come back to the present.

Minmei wondered why in that moment between life and death she had seen Rick's face. She cared for him very much, that was true, but were her feelings really so –

Minmei shook the thought away, reminding herself that she was angry at Rick. Not only had he neglected to return her phone call of the night before, he hadn't even picked up the ticket to her movie that she had managed to finagle for him!

_Hmpf! _She tossed her hair and snuggled under the covers on the bed.

There was a knock on the door.

Minmei winced and called out in a weak voice "Who is it?" preparing to play sick if it were Vance.

"It's Kyle, are you OK, Minmei? You sound ill."

Minmei's eyes brightened. "Kyle? Come in!" Covers still wrapped around her she jumped off the bed and hurried over to the door just as it opened.

"I'm fine," she told her cousin, "I was just screening visitors."

"And I passed the test?" Kyle grinned.

Minmei laughed. "Always."

Kyle looked at her in concern. "You **are** OK, aren't you?"

Minmei waved a hand. "I'm fine, really, thank you so much for saving me."

Kyle put an arm around her shoulders. "Any time."

They went over to the couch and sat down.

"Did you have dinner?" Kyle asked.

"Just some of your mother's soup," Minmei replied, "she brought it by, didn't you see her?"

"Uh no, I must have been tied up with Vance," Kyle shook his head.

"Oh, that's too bad, I have some left over if you want," she made to stand up, but Kyle put his hand on her arm.

"No, I'm fine."

Minmei shrugged and settled back down on the couch cushions.

Nothing was said Kyle seemed content just to look at her, which made Minmei slightly uncomfortable.

"Did Vance say anything about my concert?" She asked, more to break the silence than anything else.

"Oh…um…I didn't think to ask," Kyle shook his head as if coming out of a dream. "It's not for a while yet."

Minmei nodded. "I was just wondering, I want it to be perfect for my fans."

Kyle grinned and pretended to sock her on the chin. "You know it will be."

Minmei giggled. "As long as I have you behind me, I be it will be!"

* * *

"So with the help of the Bridge Bunnies, I ran everything by Gloval," Claudia told Roy that night as they sat on the couch in his quarters, "and well, the wedding's set for whenever we want it."

Roy burst out laughing. "The rumours are true, telling Sammie, Vanessa and Kim anything and you might as well tell the world."

Claudia punched him lightly on the arm. "If it's anyone's fault it's **yours**, you're the one who flirted with Sammie," she crossed her arms and made a show of looking angry. "Or did you think I wouldn't notice?"

Roy held up his hands. "Come on, babe, you know that's just how I operate," he said in a theatrically debonair tone.

"Yeah, I'd like to get someone to operate on you," Claudia threatened, mockingly, then burst into laughter when Roy tickled her ribs.

"Quit it!" She managed finally, detangling herself from his arms.

"You know, I think Lisa's starting to rub off on you, you're no fun these days."

"Hey!" Claudia objected. "For your information while you and I were on duty she was living it up at Miss Minmei's premiere."

"At least until the transformation…what was **that** all about? The cruiser didn't even **aim** at us!"

"Well, Sammie was a little nervous and she jumped the gun. You can't stop the transformation once it starts," Claudia shrugged, "and you've got to give it at least half an hour before you can reverse it."

Roy took her in his arms again and pulled her close. "You know, I can't resist it when you talk shop," he growled, planting a fiery kiss on her lips.

Claudia put up a token show of resistance before melting into the embrace.

They were far away from everything on the ship and the war when suddenly the front door slid open.

"Big Brother! You'll never guess whaa-?!"

Roy and Claudia jumped apart, turning to the door to see Rick who was gaping at them.

"Tryin' to catch flies, Little Brother?" Roy raised his eyebrows.

Rick shook his head and snapped his mouth shut.

Claudia had not spent much time in Rick's company, seeing as any lengthy time off-duty was time to be spent with Roy, but she liked him, **despite** how much he annoyed Lisa.

"Hello Rick," she greeted him with a wave.

"Uh, ma'am!" He saluted.

Roy and Claudia burst into gales of laughter and Rick turned red.

"Looks like the military life is rubbing off on you more than you though, Little Brother," Roy remarked when he finally caught his breath. "My dear love here prefers to go by Claudia."

"Uh, right," Rick nodded, "hey, Claudia."

"So," she tried to put him at ease, "what will we never guess?"

The plan backfired, if anything Rick looked even **more** embarrassed.

"I suppose this is boys talk," Claudia declared, getting to her feet, "I'll leave you two alone."

But Rick was backing away toward the door. "Well, don't let me interrupt you or anything…"

Roy got to his feet too. "Nah, don't sweat it, Rick," he told him, then took Claudia's hand. "After all, Claudia and I will have a lot time for each other next Saturday after the Wedding, right, dear?"

Claudia turned to him, expecting him to laugh, he was smiling at her, but his eyes were absolutely serious.

She felt a wide smile creep across her own face. "Sounds just fine to me, Flyboy."

* * *

"This Saturday?" Rick asked, once Claudia had left, after Roy had given her a kiss that had Rick flushing red all over again. "Isn't that awfully short notice?"

"Well, we're not inviting the whole ship," Roy shrugged, "and now the Captain's on board with officiating the whole thing, well…we're men of action aren't we, Rick?"

"Uh, I guess."

"Now, tell me what you came here for, aside from my sparkling company," Roy gave him a wink.

Rick looked confused as if he'd forgotten the reason himself, then he shook his head. "Oh right! Well today, when the transformation happened I ended up trapped-"

"You really should get yourself a Sat-Nav, Little Brother."

"Ha, ha. But that's not all; I got trapped with Commander Hayes!"

"Lisa?"

"Do you know of any other Commander Hayes?"

"OK, OK, don't get snippy, it wasn't **that** bad, I hope…" he narrowed his eyes slightly. "What did you say to her?"

"**Me**?! I didn't say anything…well…uh…that is…"

Roy folded his arms.

"OK, maybe I was a **little** insensitive, but she got just as many shots at me," Rick protested.

"Ah, so you want me to somehow get you out of been court-martialled, hmmm?"

"No, that's the thing, after a while we got to talking and well…she's not so bad," Rick shrugged, "she even brought me a cola after it was all over."

"Oooh, racy."

"It's not like that!" Rick frowned at him. "The thing is…I kinda said it without meaning to…"

"Said **what**?" Roy prodded.

"Well, that I might like to take her out to dinner," Rick blurted.

Roy raised his eyebrows so high they almost disappeared beneath his hair. "You **what**?"

"Am I crazy? Is she going to kill me for it? It's just…I expected her to be so different and-"

Roy held up his hand. "Woah, woah, steady on, Rick, I can't answer if you don't stop talking."

Rick snapped his mouth shut.

"Hmmm," Roy rubbed his chin, "so you asked the old sourpuss out…"

Rick winced. "That was said a long time ago, Roy!"

"It's nice to see you've moved on," he nodded, then shrugged. "Well, I don't see what the big deal is, if she was upset she would have said so."

"Maybe she didn't hear me, or she thought I was joking? Maybe I should just never mention it again?"

"What, you don't **want** to go out with her?" Roy was getting confused; sometimes it was impossible to figure out what his Little Brother was thinking.

"I never said anything about **dating** her," Rick objected as if Roy had just suggested he stick his head out an airlock. "It was just a friendly dinner invitation, that's all! But Lisa doesn't really **do** friendly, does she?"

"There you go again, bagging her out when you hardly know her." Roy shook his head.

"Well, I'd have to know her better than **you**; we spent about a week on that Zentraedi battle cruiser together."

Roy rolled his eyes. "Because I'm sure that Lisa acts **exactly** the same way at home as when she's a P.O.W, come on, Rick."

"Look, it's just that…I don't **want** to date Lisa, I mean life's complicated enough with Minmei…" Rick shook her head.

"Didn't we agree the other night that Minmei was a lost cause?"

"Maybe while her movie's so big, but I don't want to give up on her **entirely**! And certainly not for Lisa."

Roy thought Rick was really short-changing the ship's First Officer, but he decided not to press the point.

"Well, if you've made up your mind, what are you coming to **me** for?"

Rick shrugged. "I just thought…well you had a lot of girls in your life, have any of them been actual friends?"

"Oh, hey, thanks for making me sound like a complete user."

"You said it, not me."

"Of course some of them were friends, geeze, and of course after you, Claudia's the best friend I've got."

"I meant more like girls you were **only** ever friends with, that you never…uh…kissed or anything like that."

"I'm not a hooker, you know," Roy gave Rick a stern look; "there's plenty of women out there I **haven't **dated, who as you put it, were just friends."

"Right and that's what I want with Lisa," Rick affirmed, "but does Claudia understand you're just friends these girls? Or does she get all jealous?"

"Please, Claudia is an adult."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that she knows the difference between friends and lovers don't get so jumpy Little Bro."

"I'm not jumping," Rick defended himself, rather poorly seeing as how his fingers were tapping rapidly against the wall.

"Look, Rick, if you want my advice, just get on with it," Roy looked Rick right in the eye. "Sure, Minmei may come around, but don't waste away waiting for her, OK?"

Rick sighed and nodded, but Roy had the distinct feeling that it wasn't going to be as easy as all that.

* * *

Miriya stood in front of the shop window, completely enthralled, an array of weaponry was arrayed before her. Long swords, knives, daggers and what the micronian's called 'bos' and 'sais'.

Most shops in this 'Macross' as it was called left Miriya cold, if not feeling a little ill, but not this one.

_Imagine the damage I could inflict with these_, she thought hungrily to herself.

One display in particular drew her in, it was two sharp knives, a pair with pristine blades that reflected her image and with ornately designed sheaths.

Finally, unable to resist Miriya entered the shop, a bell sounding as she did and immediately the micronian behind the counter turned to face her.

_What a clever device!_ Miriya allowed herself to admit.

"Hello, may I help you?" The micronian asked.

Miriya's instincts recoiled at such a notion as accepting help, but she had to remember how the micronians worked.

Putting a smile on her face she walked up to the counter. "I noticed that fine pair of knives in the window."

The micronian smiled broadly. "Ah yes! Takasama originals, finest warrior blades in Japan," he gushed, "would you like to see them?"

"Certainly," Miriya's smile was no longer feigned and it widened as the micronian brought the knives over and place one in her hands for her inspection.

Doubtless, one thrust could drop a member of this miserable race and for a moment Miriya actually considered it…after all, it was just the two of them in the shop…

But no. The ship was not that big and Miriya had seen plenty of uniform non-combatants referred to by the micronians as 'police' and from what she had heard she knew they would come after her if she dared try anything.

There was only one micronian she could kill and after she did, she would leave Zor's Fortress as quickly as possible.

So, she handed the knife back to the micronian and enquired, pleasantly, how much they cost as she had heard countless micronians do at these shops of theirs every day.

"A real steal," he answered her, "just two hundred dollars."

Nos of combat training ensured that her surprised did not register on her face and allowed her to thank him before leaving.

_Two hundred dollars!_ She thought, shaking her head.

If she properly understood the micronian custom of exchanging small round pieces of metal then it was going to take some sort of miracle for her to get that much.

* * *

Max was sure he saw a flash of green hair just a few metres down the street, but he couldn't investigate because Rick was walking with him, talking his ear off.

"So, **then**, I end up running into Commander Hayes, it's like Murphy's Law or something!"

Max turned to him with a sympathetic smile. "That's rough, Boss, too bad you didn't have your mobile, I tried to call from the line."

"I don't know about you," Rick shook his head, "but those damn things are a complete waste, mine doesn't even turn **on** half the time."

Max grinned. "You didn't accidentally let it go through the wash did you?"

Rick seemed to be seriously considering this, but then shook his head. "No, I've just got a dud, no surprise there."

"Cheer up, Boss, it's not all bad, the aliens haven't attacked us since then and we're both off duty."

Rick merely grunted.

Max was not deterred however. "So what are you up for? How 'bout a bout of _Knife Fight_ at _Close Encounters_?"

"Nah," Rick shook his head, "besides I should go buy something for Roy…he's getting married you know."

"I heard the rumours," Max adjusted his glasses on his nose, "so it's really true, that's great for him."

"Yeah, but not so much for me, I have to make a speech, I suck at that sort of thing, what am I supposed to say?"

"Well, I've never actually **been **to a wedding before, but from what I've seen on TV you're supposed to make as many off-colour jokes about the groom's previous dating exploits as possible."

Rick gave a snort of laughter. "Sheesh, with Roy we'll be there for the rest of the **year**!"

Max couldn't resist taking a quick look around with for that green haired woman.

"See some you know?" Rick asked, catching him in the act.

"Nah," Max shrugged, deciding to keep it to himself, Rick had enough on his mind as it was.

"Well, anyway, you're invited, if you're off-duty, dress uniform."

Max whistled. "Fancy, we didn't even have to wear that when we got back from the alien warship!"

"I'm not looking forward to it, I bet I'll look like an idiot," Rick was perfectly morose. There wasn't much that could be done about it, except humour him.

"Well, you and the rest of us, of course."

Rick shook his head.

"So when is it?"

"This Saturday."

"Yikes!"

"Roy doesn't wait around," Rick shrugged.

"Well, it's probably a good idea these days," Max replied, slightly envious. Not that he had a girl, but the thought of marriage and a family was very appealing to him.

Rick smiled. "Hey, maybe **you** should make the speech," he suggested, only half joking.

"Well, I can't do that, but I **can** help you with yours."

"I can use all the help I can get!"

* * *

The fact that they had not seen the movie in its entirety had only wetted the appetites of those who Rico, Konda and Bron had spoken to of micronian life.

In the lon that had passed since then they had spent as much time as possible in that small meeting room, listening to the Minmei doll and hearing more stories about micronian life. Like the foods they had, the free time and all the activities that were allowed. Singing, watching non-combat footage, being with **females**!

This last one was particularly enticing to the renegade Zentraedi, they had of course been indoctrinated to fear and loathe their female counterparts, almost to the point where they would kill each other if given the chance.

But the prettiness of Minmei and the descriptions of micronian females had changed these feelings to something else.

The word of Minmei had spread throughout Breetai's ship and quite a few more Zentraedi had come to the meeting room to hear more, to the point where the room was almost bursting.

"I wish we could all be spies!" A Zentraedi announced when the Minmei doll finished its song. "Then we could see this all for ourselves."

"Hmmm," Rico murmured looking at Konda and Bron.

The three spies knew it was improbable that another spy mission would be ordered.

_But perhaps,_ Konda thought, _there's another way…_

Rico seemed to read his thoughts. "Listen," he said to the assembled Zentraedi, "the command has no interest in investigating the micronian life any further."

There were groans and sighs.

"But that doesn't mean we can't **become** micronians ourselves!" Rico held up a hand for quiet. "We can micronise ourselves any time we wish."

"But how we would we get to the micronian's ship," Mardul pointed out, "we would have to be delivered by someone, and I don't want to be left behind!"

This was greeted with a chorus of agreement from the other Zentraedi in the room.

_Hmmm, didn't think of that._ Rico admitted to himself.

"OK, you're right," he said aloud, "but we'll come up with something, I promise you."

The Zentraedis were impressed.

"And we'll all get to come along?"

"And meet Minmei."

"Of course we will, don't worry about that," Rico said with conviction.

On Khyron's battle cruiser things were quite different, although some murmurs of the three spies stories had spread through there too there were very diluted and had nowhere near as much impact.

Khyron, of course had heard nothing of it, he had been too busy trying to figure out another way of attacking Zor's ship…and of course, antagonising Azonia.

He was highly annoyed that the previous lon's sortie against the micronians had firstly taken place without him and secondly had been so pathetically played out. The cat and mouse games Breetai was now playing were unbecoming of Zentraedi warriors.

Apparently it had had something to do with footage picked up from the battle fortress.

"Hmpf, why bother with these tactics? Why not destroy the micronians and be done with it?"

He hadn't actually been asking the question expecting an answer, but got one anyway.

"We are to recover Zor's Protoculture Matrix, m'lord," Grel said from behind him.

"Was I speaking to you?" Khyron snapped over his shoulder at his aide.

Grel shrunk back.

"What do we care of this Protoculture Matrix? We are powerful enough with out and its time the micronians saw that." His eyes turned towards the micronian planet. "Hmm, I wonder…"

"We can't attack the planet, m'lord," Grel spoke, his voice tight with anxiety. "His Excellency was quite specific on that point."

"Shut up!" Khyron put his fist to his mouth and chewed on his knuckles. Grel was right of course, but Khyron was annoyed none the less, and was even more so when he saw his aide had not left. "Do you have something to report?"

"Well, m'lord, I've heard some unsettling news coming from Breetai's ship," Grel began, catching Khyron's attention, he turned to face him. "Apparently the three spies have returned and are spreading all sorts of stories about the micronians…and not ones of warning."

Khyron's eyes narrowed. "What are you getting at?"

"It seems…that the three spies may have **enjoyed **their time on Zor's ship!"

"Ridiculous!" Khyron spat. "You've obviously heard wrongly, Grel." He swung back around. "Don't bother me with this nonsense again; I have more important things to think about!"


	14. Chapter 14

"_Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." _1 Corinthians 13:4-7

* * *

Breetai and Exedore had sent the footage of the ancient micronian battle to Dolza and due to the fact that images could be sent instantly through space His Excellency was on the comm. screen looking as shaken as they had the first time they'd viewed it.

"These micronians possess powers we have never dreamed of," Dolza rumbled. "We are risking destruction by continuing to attack them."

Breetai and Exedore exchanged glances, wondering if their leader was about to suggest the improbable…that Zentraedi **retreat**, give into their enemy.

"They do not seem to have rediscovered the ancient weapon just yet, Your Excellency," Breetai informed him, "we sent a small sortie to attack the Battle Fortress…to test them, no evidence of it was shown."

"Hmmm," Dolza was thoughtful, then announced. "I want you to make one more sortie on Zor's ship, to breech it in order to capture the highest ranking micronians you can find. I want them delivered to me and the battle fortress destroyed."

Had either Breetai or Exedore been holding anything they would have dropped it, they were so stunned by the order. After all these nos of searching…after all the restraint they had exercised in not destroying the micronians right off…

"De-destroyed?" Exedore spluttered. "But, Your Excellency! The Protoculture Matrix, the secrets of Zor!"

"The micronians are obviously more conversant in these secrets than we are, I now believe that we would be better served by having them **tell** us what they know, before disposing of them, as well as their entire planet."

Breetai felt an odd sensation in the pit of his stomach…the micronians had proved to be equal adversaries to the Zentraedi, something they had never come up against before…And now, the war was to end.

But one could not refuse Commander-in-Chief Dolza, so the two of them saluted, fists pounding their chests.

"I expect results, Breetai," Dolza spoke threateningly, "do not disappoint me."

And then he broke off the communication.

Breetai turned to Exedore. "How are we supposed to get troops into Zor's ship? They're not going to let us get that close to them and just open the bays!"

Exedore though, had all ready come up with a plan. "I would not be so sure, m'lord. The micronians on the ship **have** attacked us in a manner that leaves their ship accessible, we have just been unable to resist it."

Breetai's brow furrowed. "Don't talk in riddles," he spoke threateningly.

"I believe our spies heard it referred to as the _Daedeleus Manoeuvre_, where the fortress punches into another ship, it then opens a hold at the front to allow heavy-infantry mecha to fire and destroy our ship from the inside." Exedore explained, he folded his arms. "However, if we were to place our **own** mecha at the front of a cruiser to intercept this _Daedeleus_ before the micronian mecha can fire, we would have free entry into the battle fortress."

A grim smile spread across Breetai's face. "Why, Exedore, I do believe you have out done yourself."

* * *

The past week had been an absolutely whirlwind of preparations, the fact that the Captain's schedule had necessitated moving the date to Sunday had certainly helped, when not on the Bridge, Lisa, Claudia and the Bridge Bunnies had been working on the wedding. Figuring out whereabouts on the ship it should be held (they had decided on the observation deck of the _Prometheus_), what should be eaten at the reception (an assorted buffet) and what the bridal party would wear.

It was this last one that had got to Lisa the most and now, standing in Claudia's quarters, she nervously smoothed the front of her dress.

Ordinarily, she would have worn her dress uniform to such functions, indeed, only the day before she had not had any formal dress suitable for a wedding.

But the Bridge Bunnies had been so excited at the thought of dressing up she hadn't been able to burst their bubble.

So here she was in a long silk dress of powder blue, a red rose pinned to below the right shoulder and a bouquet of blue daisies.

She had agreed to have her long hair styled and it was now in a bun with two thick tendrils left loose to frame her face, but she had put her foot down on the make up. Lisa had never worn make up in her life and she wasn't going to today. Fortunately, Claudia had declared she looked fine as is, so the Bridge Bunnies hadn't pressed the point.

No-one had seen Claudia's dress yet, she had wanted it to be a surprise, Lisa privately thought the real reason was so the Bridge Bunnies wouldn't tell the whole of the SDF-1 and ruin the surprise for the guests and groom in particular.

Speaking of the Bridge Bunnies, they entered at that moment, in their element, their dresses matched Lisa's, but each a different in colour, Vanessa's dress was a pastel yellow, Kim's a light purple and Sammie's baby pink, they all had roses pinned to their dresses too and they each had their own bouquets of daisies.

They giggled together in excitement, examining each other's bouquets, Vanessa's being yellow, Kim's a purple variety, and Sammie's a bright pink almost red type.

"Isn't my hair divine?" Sammie struck a diva pose, tossing back her head, her long red hair in an updo.

"They finally made it look good," Kim snickered, "they really can perform miracles."

"Hey!"

"Come on you two," Vanessa patted her own hair, "let's not fight, it's Claudia's big day after all, we better not ruin it."

"Of course we won't!" Sammie and Kim cried in unison.

Then they noticed Lisa in the room.

"Oh wow!' Sammie breathed.

"You look **great**," Vanessa nodded.

"We said you would," Kim remarked, "and you didn't believe us, but you do."

Lisa fidgeted self-consciously, but tried to take the compliment graciously. "Thank you, girls."

They seemed to sense her discomfort though and changed the subject.

"Where's Claudia anyway?" Sammie asked.

"I hope she hasn't got cold feet," Kim replied.

"Oh, don't even **joke** about it!" Sammie cried, seriously.

"Now, do you think after all these years I'd ruin it," a voice came from the door way.

The four women turned.

Sammie, Kim and Vanessa were completely silent as their friend came into the room in her wedding dress.

"Why, I've finally found a way to keep them quiet!" Claudia laughed, "Maybe I should wear this all the time," she winked at Lisa.

"Claudia, you look wonderful," Lisa told her best friend, almost teary eyed.

It was true, Claudia had chosen a simple strapless white gown, it had no embellishments or beading, but the smile on Claudia's face was radiant enough on its own.

The Bridge Bunnies all broke into a chorus of sighs and almost cried, but held back so as not to ruin their mascara.

"Oh, I can't wait to get married," Sammie sighed.

"Me neither," Kim didn't even attempt to make fun of her friend this time.

"That dress is perfect," Vanessa added.

"Why thank you, girls," Claudia came over and hugged them each in turn. "Come on, I need your help with my veil."

They all followed her to her bedroom.

"Roy's a closet traditionalist, I swear," she told them as she pulled on a pair of a white elbow length gloves. "So, I've got all those bride-y things. Something old," she indicated a green velvet ribbon around her throat, "I wore this on our first 'date' I'll tell you the story some day," she rolled her eyes. "Something new, the earrings you gave me last night," she smiled, and winked, "although the boys at _Soar_ almost made me forget them!"

The Bridge Bunnies giggled gleefully.

"Thanks for **our** earrings," Kim said, referring to the matching pearl earrings the three of them wore.

Claudia grinned. "Something blue," she picked up her bouquet, where one blue rose was nestled among red ones.

"But I need something borrowed," she frowned.

Lisa was struck by an inspiration. "Wait a second," she told her best friend and rushed out of Claudia's quarters down the hall to her own, slowed some what by her heels, but still making good time.

"I got this for my 18th birthday," she breathed when she had returned, holding out her hand, a ruby in an oval setting lay on her palm. Karl had given it to her to remind her of him…it was the same colour as Mars…

She didn't say this, but Claudia seemed to sense how important it was and her eyes glistened with tears. "It's beautiful, Lisa…thank you so much."

Unfastening the green ribbon, she slid the ruby on and put the ribbon back around her throat.

Lisa was not game to try and help with putting on Claudia's veil, but the Bridge Bunnies seemed to know what they were doing and soon the veil was in place, held by clips accented with red roses.

"Oh! This is so romantic!" Sammie clasped her hands together and almost swooning. "I can hardly stand it! Are you nervous, Claudia? I am!"

"Well…maybe just a bit," Claudia gave her a grin, "but don't lose your heads, now."

"Oh, we won't, especially not Sammie," Kim nudged her friend, "after all the work the stylist did on her hair!"

* * *

"Gee, Rick, who's the one getting married?" Roy asked, watching as Rick tugged on his uniform collar, then straightened his jacket.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just not used to this thing…"

"Yeah, it's not built for comfort," Roy admitted, finding the dress shirt a bit tight himself. "But hey just be glad you're not the Captain, he has to wear a cape to top it all off."

"What?" Rick stared at him in disbelief.

"Scout's honour," Roy swore.

Rick shook his head.

"This just seems so weird…" Rick said, "I mean…I just didn't think you'd get married, you know…and now I'm your best man, what if I do something dumb?"

"Oh, you did that well enough last night," Roy winked at him.

"Thanks for reminding me."

The night before, Rick, Max, Roy and the rest of the Skull Squadron had gone out for drinks. Rick had not consumed anything, but had somehow ended up falling flat on his face anyway.

"Hey, look on the bright side; you can only have so much bad luck."

Rick did not look entirely convinced, but decided to take it in good humour, so instead of saying something snappy checked his watch. "It starts at ten right, we've got half an hour."

"Hell, really?" Roy checked his own watch, a present from Claudia that he forgot to wear more often than not. "We better haul."

They went by to get Max, who in his typical manner seemed just as comfortable in his dress uniform as in anything else and were soon heading to _Prometheus _in a military jeep.

"Congratulations, Commander," Max said as they drove, "this is a happy day for you."

"Well, in between the anxiety attacks," Roy replied, only half-joking.

Upon arrival at the _Prometheus_ they found the rest of the Skulls and a number of the female ratings and officers, who luckily were not required to wear the dress uniform.

"Some get all damn luck," Rick muttered.

Captain Gloval was there, in full dress uniform, cape and all, looking rather embarrassed.

"Captain, I gotta say," Roy greeted him, "you've gone above and beyond the call of duty."

"Thank you, Commander," Gloval spoke gruffly, then fidgeted, "I just wish I could have my pipe on hand."

"I wouldn't mind a smoke myself," Roy admitted.

Gloval checked his watch. "Do you think the ladies will be late?"

"Well, if it were **me**," Roy began, "but then again, Lisa's at the helm so…"

"**Lisa**?" Rick blurted from beside him.

Roy turned to him. "Well, of course, who else would Claudia pick?"

Rick looked as if he'd been hit over the head, obviously he was still feeling weird about the whole trapped-in-the-SDF-1-asking-Lisa-to-dinner-what-will- Minmei-think (if anything) thing.

"Don't worry about a thing, Rick," Roy whispered to him, "you'll probably barely recognise her today."

* * *

_Did Roy say there's really only so much bad luck a person can have? I don't think so._ Rick thought to himself as he waited in a small room off the observation deck for the bridal party to arrive. He of course hadn't said anything to Roy, but he was acutely aware that today was Minmei's birthday and since he was on duty later in the evening he had no chance of even calling her to wish her well. It was just his luck that he had to escort Commander Hayes up the aisle.

_I can't believe this…_

He took a look at his watch it was five to; he was surprised they hadn't arrived all ready, knowing Lisa…

As if the universe heard him there was the sound of female voices from the other door to the room and it opened.

Rick's jaw dropped.

At the head of the party was Lisa, but his Big Brother was right, he barely recognised her, she looked **nothing** like a First Officer, she didn't even look like the well-dressed woman from a week ago.

"Lieutenant Hunter!" She seemed just as shocked to see him.

"Well, looks like Roy sent **you **to sound the waters," Claudia said with a laugh coming up from behind Lisa.

"Wow," Rick couldn't help saying at the sight of her.

Claudia gave him a wink. "How nice of you to say."

From behind Claudia came the Bridge Bunnies, who giggled at the sight of him.

"So you're here to escort Lisa?" The one with glasses, Vanessa, Rick remembered, grinned at him.

"Oh, I wish we had escorts!" the red head, Sammie, pouted.

"No you don't," the third one, Kim laughed, "otherwise we'd be stuck with them all day!"

"Don't go too crazy, girls," Claudia cautioned the Bridge Bunnies, "remember these boys have to face combat."

Sammie poked her tongue out in a good natured way.

Lisa hadn't joined in any of the frivolity, instead she asked Rick. "What time is it, please?"

"It's ten now," he muttered back.

"They say the bride should be late, but I'm too excited!" Claudia announced, "Let's get this show on the road! Or should I say runway."

Lisa cracked a small smile then went to the door way to signal they were ready, then she came over to Rick. "Well, I guess we have to do this together," she spoke lightly and held out her arm. "It shouldn't be any worse than facing the aliens."

Rick found himself smiling, but when he took Lisa's arm in his he found himself sweating.

_It's only Commander Hayes,_ he told himself, _and we're not on duty…I'm fine…_

With that in mind, he stood up straight as the doors to the observation deck and the music began.

Fortunately, it was a short walk down the aisle, but Rick was acutely aware of Lisa with every step, as well as the eyes of the assembled guests. He felt like a circus sideshow.

Roy seemed unreasonably amused at the sight of Rick and Lisa coming down the aisle, and Rick had to suppress an urge to make a certain finger gesture at his Big Brother.

Reaching the end of the aisle, Rick released Lisa's arm and went to stand next to Roy.

"You'll pay for this," he whispered.

* * *

Khyron felt vindicated, Lord Breetai was on screen, explaining the new orders from Dolza and entrusting **him** with the task of invading the battle fortress.

"I'm giving you one lon to complete this mission," Breetai told him, "do not rush this, Khyron, I will brook no failures."

Khyron bristled at this, but did not show it. "Certainly, my Lord Breetai."

Breetai gave a sharp nod, before cutting the communication.

Khyron turned to Grel. "We've been given our orders, Grel, permission to destroy the micronians, at last!"

"Uh…don't forget we have to have to capture some of them, m' lord," he ventured, nervously.

"Yes, yes," Khyron snarled over his shoulder, "we will simply grab the first ones we see."

"Uh…" Grel was about object, but Khyron gave him a look that was positively murderous.

"I want the two divisions on this," Khyron began, "mine, of course, and the 1st Division."

"From Breetai's ship, sir?"

"Of course, since we've been given free-reign we may as well take advantage of it. Certainly, it will be a tough battle and should we not have the best behind us." Khyron's eyes glittered with mirth.

Grel saw immediately at what his Commander was getting at, he surely hoped that the Breetai's 1st Division would take heavy losses during the mission. He wished he could persuade Khyron to change his mind, but he knew well enough that such a thing was impossible.

"I will make the request then, m'lord."

"Good, very good," Khyron nodded, he then made announcement to the techs on the deck below. "I want all the information on Zor's ship, sonar images, intel from the spies reports, I want to know that battle fortress inside and out."

The techs saluted and began rushing around immediately to fulfil his orders.

Khyron went to his command chair and sat down; he couldn't wait until the techs finished their research so they could patch him through to Azonia's ship…

_Wait until that vile woman hears about __**this**__,_ he exulted.

* * *

Captain Gloval had never actually officiated over a wedding before and had spent most of the previous evening reading over the order of service and making sure he actually had the authority to do so. He hadn't actually been able to figure out the latter, but considering they UEC had washed their hands of the SDF-1 he decided it didn't really matter.

But his hands were still sweating as the Bridge Bunnies reached the end of the aisle coming to stand beside Lisa. Underneath his nervousness he was as proud as any father of how wonderful the girls from the Bridge looked.

Then a hush fell over the crowd as everyone stood for the bride's entrance.

Claudia's appearance was greeted by a sigh from those assembled; she really did make a beautiful bride, her dress seeming somehow whiter in the starlight that reflected from the observation window. Claudia smiled radiantly, as she came up the aisle to take her place beside Commander Fokker, who gave her a broad grin.

Captain Gloval cleared his throat and for a fearful moment drew a complete blank on what he was meant to say.

But then it all flooded back and he welcomed those assembled to this special day, a long time coming.

"I am sure that when history looks back on our exploits here, they will wonder to themselves if we truly had any happy times," Gloval spoke, looking at each person in the crowd, every one of whom had fought in defence of the SDF-1 and those aboard. "But they will certainly see the happiness in this day."

The service was a short, but traditional one with vows of promising to love "in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, for as long as we both shall live."

When Gloval announced Roy and Claudia husband and wife and the two shared a romantic kiss, Roy theatrically tilting Claudia back over his arm, the crowd burst into applause and cheers. The Bridge Bunnies started to cry and hugged each other tightly. Lisa meanwhile was sniffling back her own tears and Gloval felt close to shedding a few himself.

At that point the members of the Skull Squadron got to their feet to form the ceremonial Honour Guard, four pilots on either side, raised their swords.

"Ahem…" Gloval cleared his throat. "May I present Commander and Lieutenant Roy Fokker."

To cheers and applause, Roy and Claudia headed underneath the Arch of Swords, at least to the end where the two facing pilots there had crossed their swords to block the new couple's way.

"Well, if you insist," Roy grinned, planting another kiss on his bride. The two pilots raised their swords to let them through, Lt. Malcom, who was standing on the bride's side playfully sword swatted her.

"I'd welcome you to the military, ma'am, but your already here," he laughed.

"You're pushing it, soldier," Claudia shot back warningly, but then laughed and she and Roy continued on their way.

Then Lisa and Fokker's friend, Rick Hunter following with the Bridge Bunnies in tow.

Captain Gloval surreptitiously wiped his brow, relieved the whole thing was over, happy though it certainly had been.

_I just hope I won't be officiating over another wedding any time soon._

* * *

Lisa was embarrassed to be almost crying in front of Rick, particularly after the event of a week ago, but she couldn't really help it. It had been such a beautiful service, framed as it had been with the observation window with the sight of the moon and earth beyond in it.

It was exactly how she had always imagined her own wedding to Karl, when she had been left behind on earth to attend the RDF Academy. While the rest of the women in her class had been out on the town, giggling about the men in the class, Lisa had stayed in her room looking out in the night sky at the red star that was Mars.

She sighed and wiped a tear away as the bridal party re-entered the other room, the doors closing behind them.

"Claudia!" Vanessa, Sammie and Kim cried, racing over to hug her almost knocking Roy over.

"Congratulations!"

"That was so wonderful!"

"Thank you for having us be your bridesmaids!"

Claudia laughed and thanked them, before turning to Rick who was still standing beside Lisa. "And thank you, Rick, for supporting Roy today, God knows no-one else would."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Roy chuckled.

"It was my pleasure," Rick said.

"And Lisa, you've washed up just great," Roy said with a wink coming over to hug her.

Lisa blushed. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?" She asked archly.

"Take it as you will."

Lisa shook her head and turned in time to see Captain Gloval enter the room as well.

"Ooh, Captain!" The Bridge Bunnies chorused. "You were just great!"

"You'll have to officiate **my** wedding, Captain!" Sammie clapped her hands.

"You mean **all** your weddings," Kim giggled and winked.

The Captain gave a small smile. "I'll have to think about it," he said, diplomatically.

"You could do it professionally," Claudia grinned, coming over to hug Gloval. "It was great."

"And in under an hour too," Roy remarked.

"Roy," Claudia nudged him with an elbow, the Captain laughed good naturedly however.

"I guess we should head back out there and face the firing squad," Roy drawled.

With Roy and Claudia at the front the group went to the observation deck where the guests were now congregating near the door to congratulate the happy couple.

Lisa hung back hoping not to be noticed too much, but the three techs who operated the pin-point barrier, who had miraculously survived the omnidirectional barrier room overload, rushed right to her.

"Commander Hayes! We couldn't believe it was you!"

"Blue is **so** your colour!"

"And look at your hair…"

"Hmm," Lisa murmured, not exactly sure how to respond. "You all look very nice."

The three techs giggled and then went to the Bridge Bunnies exchanging shrieks and hugs.

Max Sterling appeared in front of her, with his typically shy look.

"Good morning, Commander Hayes," he greeted her.

"Lieutenant Sterling," she nodded to him.

"This wedding must have the blessing of a higher power," Max commented, thoughtfully. "The aliens have shown no sign of attacking."

Lisa smiled. "Thank Heavens for small miracles."

Max gave her another nod, wished her a good day then moved on to speak to Rick and Lisa was left alone again.


	15. Chapter 15

"_The micronians spend most of their time in mindless activities, much of it revolving around the various types of 'food' they consume. Doubtless they have nothing better to do and lack the knowledge and skill to create non-organic sustenance. I am quite certain that their bizarre behaviour can all be traced back to this 'food'. A waste of time if there ever was one."_ Captain Miriya Parina's initial intel notes for her spy report.

* * *

The reception was in full swing and Roy was piling two plates with food for himself and his new wife.

"Hey, Fokker, congratulations," Gibson showed up next to him.

"Thanks," Roy replied, surprised to see the guy in a good mood, for as long as he'd known him, Gibson had a scowl on his face. _I guess he's a closet romantic…or enjoys a free meal that's actually good._

"I can't believe how good the women here look out of their uniforms," Gibson continued casting an admiring eye around the room.

"Uh-huh."

"And with the dress uniform, I'm sure to score," Gibson brushed an invisible speck from his jacket.

'_Cause that's what weddings are for._ Roy rolled his eyes, but decided that he might as well keep been polite. "Yeah, it's a good turn out."

"I had no idea you were in with Lieutenant Grant," Gibson continued, helping himself too a large amount of coleslaw. "I had the idea you were more of a playa."

"Well…" Roy shrugged, not too sure how he was supposed to answer that one.

"Not that I blame you," Gibson gave a laugh, "if **I** were Skull Leader I'd sure take all the chicks I could get."

Roy decided the guy must be slightly tipsy, which was the only way he could stop himself from making some snide comment.

"Well, to each his own," he said instead and made a quick escape to the bridal table.

"Not planning to eat for a while?" Claudia greeted him as he set her plate down in front of her.

"Hey, you know the rule get it while it's good," Roy kidded, sitting down next to her, "we should get a doggie bag."

"Romantic," Claudia drawled and took a bite of salad. "Mmmm, this is great!"

"You were saying?" Roy winked at her.

"I hope the rest of them are enjoying it," Claudia remarked.

"Hmmm," Roy took a look around; most of the guests were not at the tables, but milling about talking to each other and holding glasses of wine.

Roy kept an eye out for Rick, wondering what his Little Brother was up to.

He finally spotted him, over in the corner having been waylaid by one of the Cat Crew officers.

"Hmmm, what do you think of that?" He asked Claudia, pointing towards the sight.

"She's probably chewing his ear off about his catapult etiquette," Claudia grinned, "he's always a little overeager."

"Hey, you don't know what it's like out there," Roy objected.

"I know I don't want to get run down by a Veritech!"

Rick had managed to escape and was hurrying over to them.

"I swear everyone on this ship is crazy."

"Well, get used to it," Roy laughed, taking a forkful of marinated chicken, "it's not like there's anywhere else to go."

Rick came around to the other side of the table and sat in the chair next to Roy.

"I hope you've got a good speech ready."

"Ugh, don't remind me," Rick sighed.

"Oh, it can't be that bad," Claudia tried to console him leaning around Roy.

"If you get in trouble, though, just propose a toast to Earth and getting home," Roy advised.

That got a small laugh out of Rick. "Thanks for the advice, Big Bro," he got to his feet, looking at the food on Roy's plate. "Any wings left?"

"Should be," Roy nodded, "most of the guys are too busy avoiding the Bridge Bunnies, and the women are all comparing dresses…again."

With a wave Rick headed off to the buffet table.

"People are so hard on those girls," Claudia remarked, "it's so unfair, they're not **that** bad….And they're better than **you** were."

"Hey now, you're not supposed to bring that up until we're all drunk during the speeches."

Claudia gave him a wink. "The speeches? You better watch it, Fokker, the things I could tell them about you."

"Let me guess, you'd like more salad?"

* * *

A whirlwind of preparation was going on for Minmei's Birthday Concert, which was to be held the very evening.

Minmei was busy picking the outfits she would wear, she wanted each one to match the songs she would be singing, her red Chinese cheongsam for _Small White Dragon_, a polka-dot party dress for _Stage Fright_ and a modified sailor suit for _My Boyfriend is a Pilot_ among others.

Kyle meanwhile was on the phone to Vance wanting his assurances that the Star Bowl was not oversold and that the extra musicians that were to perform along with Minmei's regulars knew all the songs.

"This is an important concert, OK, Vance," Kyle snapped, "don't forget that." He hung up abruptly.

"You didn't need to be so harsh," Minmei looked over her shoulder at him, "Vance can be sleazy, but he's a good manager."

Kyle shrugged. "I just didn't want him to get complacent just because your movie is doing so well."

"I'm sure the concert will be fine, after all you've helped stage manage it," Minmei smiled at him.

Deep down though, she wasn't so sure about holding the concert on her birthday. Originally she had wanted to hold it on New Year's Eve and spend her seventeenth birthday at the _White Dragon_ with Uncle Max, Aunt Lena along with little Jason and his parents. Kyle though had come up with idea of thanking those who had supported her since she had won the Miss Macross pageant by dedicating her birthday to them. She supposed it was a nice gesture.

Minmei wondered about Rick, usually he left a message for her every couple of days, but she hadn't heard from him in more than a week. She wondered if he was angry about something, but she had no idea what it could be.

"Are there tickets still available for the concert?" She suddenly asked Kyle.

"Not one."

Minmei frowned. "Oh dear, I was hoping there'd be at least one free seat…I wanted to invite someone."

"Not Rick Hunter," Kyle demanded, folding his arms.

"Why not? He's a good friend, I told you, Kyle; he saved my life back at the beginning of the fighting."

"I'm sure he did, and I know you appreciate it," Kyle spoke as if to a stubborn child. "But first of all, he's in the military, no doubt he'll be on duty and secondly, you can't expect someone to give up a good seat just so Hunter can't show up again."

Minmei pouted, she didn't think Kyle had noticed the empty seat at the movie premiere.

"Well?"

"I'm sure he had a good reason," Minmei defended Rick.

"Yeah, blowing up living things for example."

Minmei hmpfed, sometimes Kyle could be **so** unreasonable. There wasn't much she could do about it though; there was no-one more stubborn than Kyle, not even herself!

* * *

Although her main reason for been on Zor's Fortress had nothing to do with spy-work, Miriya was a Zentraedi of her word, and having made that excuse to Azonia, had been collecting intel on the micronians since her arrival when she had the chance.

And some of thing things she'd discovered!

A few 'days' ago, as the micronian's measured their time; Miriya had discovered something about the short ones. Originally, she had chalked them up to been failed units, but that did not explain the special treatment they received. In the Armada such anomalies would have been destroyed, but the micronians by contrast seemed to **treasure** their smaller brethren, letting them act in a manner that the normal sized ones were certainly not permitted to.

The explanation behind this nonsensical treatment was beyond belief… the shorter micronians did not remain so, over the 'years' – another micronian term – they somehow grew without the aid of macronisation, until they became normal sized micronians themselves! These short ones were known as 'children' and were somehow, someway the property of other normal sized micronians, known as 'adults'.

But that was not all, Miriya had discovered that a number of miniature micronians, whom she had all believed to be 'dolls' – an odd object that the female child micronians seemed to enjoy, were living as well! And they too grew…to become children and then adults. But where these miniature micronians came from Miriya could not figure out, she had not discovered any creation facilities aboard, nor any mention of them.

The reasoning for having different stages in their life cycle also eluded Miriya, there was no benefits to it that she could see, certainly not in terms of warfare, since due to their size and lack of strength the miniature or baby micronians and children could not engage in combat. It appeared to be a complete waste of resources and time, but then such things seem to be a micronian talent.

The most irritating thing of all was the difficult she was having locating the micronian ace who had bested her. She had not seen him since the showing of the battle footage, and none of queries had been answered seriously. It appeared many micronians, especially the female ones sought out this ace. _Perhaps he has performed that 'pressing of lips' attack on them and they wish to bring him down also._ Miriya wondered, it seemed that the micronian viciousness in battle did not extend outside their mecha, although she had witnessed some altercations, apparently brought on by imbibing a drink called 'alcohol'.

Miriya, though, was determined to find the ace before any other did, no matter what obstacles were put in her way.

She noticed a 'poster' upon the wall of one of the shops; it was of the female micronian who seemed to always be in the ace's company.

" 'Minmei in Concert'," Miriya read out loud to herself and wondered exactly what that meant, she then read the smaller text beneath. " '10th October at the Star Bowl'."

Miriya knew that tenth of October was a description for this current day and she knew of the 'Star Bowl', a stadium of sorts located in the centre of the city, it held a huge amount of the micronian population, but for what reason, Miriya was not quite sure.

_But if __**she**__ is to be there, surely he will also,_ Miriya figured, _in that case I will be as well._

* * *

Claudia tapped a fork against her wine glass.

Eventually, word that the buffet food was delicious had got around and everyone was now at a table, chowing down.

"Attention everyone, hey!" She called, waving her hand to further get the guests' attention.

Once everyone was looking at the Bridal Table, Claudia continued. "I'd like to thank you all for coming. Ordinarily, the groom would be making this speech –"

"But I'd hate to rob Claudia of a chance to blab!' Roy called out and she made a show of hitting him on the head with her fork to the chuckles of the guests.

"But I **insisted**, so you'd be able to understand what was been said," she gave Roy a wink. "Anyway, I'd like to thank you all for coming on such short notice, and being so well dressed. And of course, special thanks go to our brave Captain, who not only officiated for us, but wore his complete dress uniform."

Captain Gloval, still in his cape gave a wave to the laughing crowd.

"I hope that you'll enjoy the rest of the day, and that Roy won't do anything to embarrass us all."

Claudia gave Roy a kiss on the cheek as she sat down, which gave out a chorus of 'awws' lend by the Bridge Bunnies.

Then Lisa got up, looking quite nervous at been the centre of attention, but Lisa Hayes would always keep her word, and she had agreed to make a speech, so she did.

"I would just like to say that I'm truly honoured to have been asked to be Claudia's Maid of Honour. She has been my best friend for more than five years and has been the best one I could hope for." Lisa looked over at Claudia with one of her rare smiles. "I would like to propose a toast to her and all the happiness in the world."

Everyone followed suit and called "Cheers!" before taking a drink from their wine glasses.

"What about me?" Roy called from beside Claudia.

"What about you?" Lisa asked innocently.

Roy made a show of looking crushed.

"All right, all right, as for you Fokker, well…you make Claudia happy and that's the important thing."

"Hey, thanks," Roy called back.

There was applause as Lisa sat down and then it was Rick's turn. Claudia knew he was very nervous and everyone else probably did to from the way he tugged at his dress shirt.

"Uh, um…when Roy asked me to make a speech, I had no idea what to say…and…I really don't now."

Claudia and most of the room gave a laugh, though she wasn't too sure if Rick was making a joke.

"I've known Roy all my life and he's always been an inspiration for me. I knew that I wanted to be a pilot for sure the first time I saw him fly for my father's Flying Circus. Even though I was only eight years old when he left to fight in the Global War, I always remembered his advice and it served me well." Rick paused and looked over at Roy. "He can be a total pain –"

"Hey, now!" Roy objected.

"And stubborn as Hell," Rick continued with a grin. "But I don't think any of us would have him any other way."

Claudia gave Roy a look that had everyone in the room chuckling again.

"So, a toast to my 'Big Brother', we may not be related by blood, but we may as well be."

Roy looked particularly touched by Rick's speech, as was everyone else in the room as the toast was made.

"As for Claudia, well, I have to admit I don't know her that well, but she certainly knows how to keep Roy occupied, which shows what a great woman she is. I hope we'll get to know each other more now that she's married into the 'family' so to speak. I can only hope she knows what she's in for."

With that he all but fell back into his seat, obviously relieved it was all over.

There was no such hesitation on the Bridge Bunnies part, the three got to their feet as one and held up their glasses.

"To Roy and Claudia!" They called in unison, and the call was echoed around the room.

Then to calls from the Skull Squadron, Roy got to his feet.

"I have just three things to say," he began, "firstly, I'd like to thank Claudia for putting up with me, secondly, I'd like to thank Rick and Lisa for **not** making a whole lot of off-coloured jokes, I really hate sleeping on the couch." He tipped his glass to both of them. "And thirdly, I'd like to thank the Captain for moving the Wedding date, the tenth of the tenth oh ten isn't one I'm likely to forget no matter how much of this wine I consume." The room applauded and laughed. "Oh and to Sammie, Vanessa and Kim, I guess I better thank you for breaking the news to the Captain for Claudia and I, since most of us wouldn't have been able to think of a good time to do it."

The room erupted into laughter at the looks of the Bridge Bunnies, who didn't seem to be sure if that was a compliment or not.

"Now, let's eat cake!"

A cheer went up in the room, seeing as the cake was an amazing creation of a top cake maker, who had been at the Launch Day Celebrations and thus caught up in the fold.

Claudia laughed as she and Roy cut into the large three tier cake with an unwieldy military sword, before switching to a normal knife.

Roy gave her a sly look and before she could do anything, he had crammed the cake right into her mouth.

"Ugh!" Amidst the sounds of laughter, Claudia grabbed a napkin to wipe off the cake from her face, glaring at Roy.

"Hey, it's tradition!"

"Oh really," Claudia returned, then gave a small smile and without warning smashed her slice of cake right into his face.

Watching Roy wiping cake off his own face, Claudia knew that things couldn't be any better.

* * *

The news that the renegade Zentraedi had been called up by Lord Khyron to participate in the attack against Zor's Fortress was greeted with dismay.

"What are we going to do?" Several of them asked as they sat in the meeting room.

"If we attack the ship, we'll probably kill this girl and never hear sing!" Kalul spoke morosely, staring at a huge poster of Minmei that had been among the treasures the three spies had brought back.

"The micronians have no chance," Furel shook his head despairingly. "Lord Khyron won't let any of them survive."

"Don't underestimate them," Rico spoke sharply, "the micronians can take on Khyron if anyone can."

Bron nodded and Konda said. "If anything this might be our big chance, the rumours are that we are to gain **access **to the ship to capture some micronians. That means we will be able to get aboard without arousing any suspicions. I'm sure the micronians will be able to stop Khyron and we'll be able to ask for asylum."

"But why would they give it to us?" One of the Zentraedi demanded. "We have been hunting and killing them for more than a hundred lon, won't they just kill us?"

"That's thing about the micronians," Rico told them, "they don't think like us. We told you about the one who called for 'peace', a long term cease of combat, one that is meant to be for good. If the micronians can go without combat, they can understand that we want to as well."

"That's right," Bron nodded firmly, "so now's the time, we've got to make our move…I'm willing to get micronised and take the chance. How 'bout the rest of you?"

Rico and Konda agreed immediately to this, and one by one the other Zentraedi agreed.

"Now, what we'll do once we're micronised is go three or four to a pod, we'll have to arrive early on the bays," Rico began, having all ready thought this plan through when rumours of the assault first started. "We don't keep records like the micronians do, so it's more than possible Lord Khyron won't even notice that the our battalion has a lot less warriors."

The Zentraedis in the room didn't seem quite as confident as the three spies, and Mardul suddenly brought up something that had been overlooked.

"Who's going to micronise us?" He asked. "Do you know how to operate the chamber well enough?"

Rico shook his head. "I didn't think of that…"

Mardul looked thoughtful; he had some technical training in his military career. "Maybe I can."

"No," Konda shook his head, "it takes a trained tech to perform micronisations, we don't want to risk our lives."

Every Zentraedi turned to one with messy blond hair.

"Karita, you were the chamber operator on a previous campaign," Rico remembered, "you can micronise us all, and yourself too!"

Karita turned his back on them and spoke in a low voice. "I…I don't know…"

"Come on, Karita!" Bron pleaded. "You're the only one who can do it! You have to agree."

"But…but operate the chamber without permission?" Karita still wouldn't look at them. "I just…I don't think I can-"

The Zentraedi all looked about in despair, until Konda got a flash of inspiration. "Karita, if you do this you can have the Minmei poster…**and** the doll."

That got Karita looking at them. "R-really?"

"Yeah, really," Rico jumped in.

"And we'll make sure you're the first to see her when we get aboard the micronian ship," Bron added, although this was perhaps something beyond their control.

"Yeah, c'mon Karita!" Another Zentraedi called.

"Let's become micronians!"

"Yeah, let's have all that stuff we never had before!"

Karita still looked tortured, but nodded. "O-OK, I'll do it…we'll…we'll have to get started now."

The Zentraedis all cheered loudly and with the three spies leading a still uncomfortable Karita towards the micronisation/macronisation chambers.


	16. Chapter 16

"_The Zentraedi had fought against a plethora of enemies, some of whom were almost as deadly as ourselves. But in all the hundreds of nos in our known history we had never come up against an enemy who overwhelmed our forces by the way they lived. Who beat us without weapons. There were only legends, and now they were coming to fruition" _Exedore Formo _The Zentraedi Question_

_

* * *

  
_

Sammie, Vanessa and Kim were giggling with excitement.

The reception was almost at its end and all the women assembled knew what that meant.

The party had been a great success, a number of soldiers had spoken to and danced with the Bridge Bunnies and a few had even expressed an interest in seeing them again.

And of course there was the romanticness of the whole occasion, right now Roy and Claudia were still dancing together along with a few other couples on the improvised dance floor in the large conference room of the _Prometheus_.

Vanessa picked up her bouquet from the table where she'd set it down. "I can't wait to get these in water; they'll make our quarters look so much better."

"I want to dry press some of mine," Kim replied, "that way we'll always have something to remember this day."

"Well, you can do that," Sammie said, loftily, "but **I'm** planning to have the Bridal Bouquet to job **my** memory."

Vanessa and Kim poked their tongues out at her.

"Don't count your chickens before they're hatched," Vanessa warned.

"Or, in **your** case, eggs," Kim teased, "I was the Robotech Academy Women's Softball team's prime catcher, remember?"

"Yeah and you couldn't even get on the team!" Vanessa laughed.

Sammie tossed her head. "I could have got in if I'd wanted to, I just didn't that's all."

Vanessa and Kim rolled their eyes at one another.

"Besides catching a bouquet is different from catching a softball," Sammie continued, "it's all about height."

"Then you really **are** doomed," Vanessa cried, dramatically, which had Kim in gales of laughter.

"Hmpf," Sammie planted her hands on her hips, "I can jump higher than anyone in this room," she swore, "you'll see."

Vanessa and Kim wisely decided not to egg on their friend any further, instead looking around to see if there were any other possible dance partners for them before the party ended.

"You know who we haven't seen in weeks?" Vanessa spoke.

The other two hmmmed.

"Those three weird guys, remember? One of them had purple hair."

"Oh, yeah! They were so great!" Kim clapped her hands together. "Konda was a **hoot**!"

"Rico was a great dancer," Sammie recalled. "Well, once he got the rhythm."

"And Bron was sweet," Vanessa sighed, "so why haven't we seen them again? They didn't even give us their phone numbers!"

"Yeah, it's weird," Kim nodded. "I mean, there's only a little more than fifty-five thousand people on this ship, it's not **that** many."

"I don't know, it's not like we've **asked** anyone about them and we don't get out to Macross City **that** much." Sammie pointed out.

"Hmmm," the three pondered the situation, but not for long as Captain Gloval called for attention.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Mr and Mrs Fokker," he smiled at Roy and Claudia, "I'm sorry to say that the party has come to an end and **most** of us need to be back on duty in a couple of hours…and I'll hope you'll be ready for it." He gave a few members of the Skull a pointed look. "But before we do end it, would all the unmarried ladies here please step forward?"

There was a cry of excitement from most of the women, who hurried forward to the centre of the room.

As Kim, Sammie and Vanessa hurried forwards, they spotted Lisa lingering towards the back of the room.

They rushed over and took her arms, propelling her forward.

"Oh no, I don't want to do this, it's silly," Lisa objected, blushing.

"Come on, Lisa!" Sammie cajoled.

"Yeah, it's all in good fun," Kim added.

"Let your hair down!" Vanessa kidded.

Soon, the three and Lisa were right in the middle of the crush of unmarried women.

Claudia, who had spilt her bouquet in half, turned her back on the crowd and made quite a show of picking up momentum before letting it fly over her head.

It soared high into the air right towards the centre of the group. Kim held up her hands as if preparing to catch a ball, Vanessa tried to calculate where the flowers would fall so she could be there to grab them and Sammie prepared to leap the highest she'd ever had.

As the bouquet started to fall Sammie leapt up, her hands reaching high for the flowers.

Her fingertips gazed the bouquet, but she wasn't fast enough in closing her fingers, to catch it.

It fell down…down…

Right into the hands Lisa was holding half-heartedly out.

* * *

Excited cheers and giggles and shrieks of congratulations clamoured around Lisa as she stared in disbelief at the red roses in her hands.

_How did this happen?_ She wondered.

Suddenly, she was hugged from all sides as the Bridge Bunnies chanted. "You caught it! You caught it!"

Lisa noticed a few of the women around her looking quite sour, but most were full of good wishes for her.

The Bridge Bunnies in particular seemed to think the whole thing was almost as good as the Wedding itself.

As the crowd of women dispensed, they were still clustered around.

"This is really good luck!" Kim chatted.

"Yeah! Now all we need is for Commander Fokker to throw the garter." Vanessa added.

"Does Claudia even have a garter on?" Sammie wondered.

It turned out she didn't, but for the sake of tradition she cajoled Roy into throwing something.

"It really should be something of **yours**," she said, "after all I lost half my bouquet to the cause."

After some thought, Roy decided to throw his uniform tie.

"I've always hated these things," he remarked as he untied it from his neck.

Lisa watched as Claudia herded most of the men in the room towards the centre, even those who protested and even Captain Gloval!

"Oh no, I don't think so," he told her, shaking his head.

"Now, sir," Claudia beamed at him, "it's tradition, all single girls and all single men have to join in."

There was a chorus of catcalls and chants of "Do it! Do it! Do it!" Lisa felt sorry for the Captain.

But being the good sport he was, Gloval finally agreed and soon a hush fell as Roy prepared to throw his tie.

As his new wife had done, he made a big deal out of doing a wind up before letting the tie fly.

It soared through the air and in contrast to the bouquet-throwing a fair number of men seemed to be jostling to get **out** of the line of fire.

One man seemed to have a different idea and reaching up as quick as lightning to snatch the tie from the air.

All the ladies craned to see who it was, especially the Bridge Bunnies, but Lisa was not quite as desperate to see who it was.

The men dispersed leaving a sheepish Max Sterling standing with the tie in hand.

The Bridge Bunnies shrieked with laughter and pushed Lisa towards him. "You have to leave the party together with the Bride and Groom!" Sammie insisted.

There were more wolf-whistles and Lisa wished more than anything that she could sink through a hole in the floor. But there was no luck to be had and she found herself walking across the floor to take Max Sterling's arm.

"Hey there, Commander," he greeted her warmly.

"Lieutenant," she couldn't help smiling at his easy-going manner.

Claudia gave her a wink as she and Roy received one more cheer and headed out the double doors of the room, with Lisa and Max following.

As they left the room Lisa thought she saw Rick looking at them slightly miffed.

_Hmmm, perhaps this isn't so bad after all._

_

* * *

  
_

Khyron was making the final preparations for the assault on the battle fortress.

Captain Gerao had 'volunteered' his cruiser for the job of decoy. Whilst nowhere near the size of Khyron's battle ship, it was sturdy enough to withstand the frontal assault of the _Daedeleus _providing Khyron and his Battalions halted the mecha within from firing.

Breetai's 1st Division had arrived in their Battle pods seeming less numerous than Khyron expected, but it didn't really matter, if fate was with him, there'd be a lot less of them when he returned triumphant having bested the micronians as he'd been destined to do.

Khyron also recalled with relish the transmission he had made to Azonia.

She had been speechless, no doubt with envy, when Khyron told him of his orders.

"I would have asked to include **you**," he had said, pleasantly, "but I thought you'd object to my command."

Azonia's face had gone dark and her eyes had flashed furiously, but she had been unable to come up with any response.

He had broken off the connection while laughing mockingly and was pleased to think of her stewing in her hapless fury.

Running through his final checks, he climbed into his Officer's Pod and rubbing his hands together in anticipation opened the comm. line. "Gerao, patch me through to Breetai, the assault is almost ready to begin!"

* * *

The wedding was well and truly over.

Out of her Wedding dress and back in uniform Claudia was on duty at her station. She peered thoughtfully at the field of stars, wondering if she and Roy would ever have a honeymoon.

As if reading her thoughts, Sammie called out. "I can't believe you're on duty! You don't even get a honeymoon or anything!"

Looking over her shoulder with a smile, Claudia took it in good humour. "Well, it's not as though there's a lot of fabulous places to go," she gave a wink, "there's not a palm tree in sight on board!"

The Bridge Bunnies laughed.

"Seriously, thought, I hope when **my** wedding comes we won't be at war," Sammie said.

"I'm sure it won't," Claudia assured her before either Vanessa or Kim could poke fun at the girl.

Claudia looked over at Lisa, who had beat a hasty retreat from the _Prometheus_ once the festivities were over. All traces of her sophisticated up-do obliterated her hair was styled as normal and her uniform crisp and pressed as ever. Lisa was clearly relieved to be back where she belonged.

"The _Minmei Birthday Concert_ is on tonight," Vanessa remarked, "a guy asked me to it, but I had to turn him down."

"Oh no!' Cried Kim.

"That's so unfair!" Sammie agreed.

"It's totally pathetic," Vanessa shook her head.

Lisa cleared her throat slightly warningly, while Claudia gave the girls a sympathetic look, she could image how Vanessa felt.

Lisa's look came not a moment too soon as Captain Gloval entered the Bridge from a meeting with Dr. Lang and Colonels Maistroff and Caruthers.

"How was the meeting, sir?" Lisa asked.

The Captain sat down in his command chair and fiddled with his cap, a sure sign he was annoyed.

"Dr. Lang thinks he can work out the problems with the omni-directional barrier, but Maistroff and Caruthers are not eager. Despite the fact we are now in space and despite the fact that it may be our only hope against all-out war with the aliens." He shook his head then looked at Claudia. "Has there been any movement from the alien fleet?"

Claudia shook her head. "Three ships seemed to have docked with one another, but aside from that, nothing."

"Hmmm, what are the playing at?" Gloval murmured to himself.

No-one on the Bridge had even a suggestion, so nothing was said.

"Well, with things bee so quiet," the Captain spoke after a moment, "I don't see why we can't listen to the concert. It is about to start, isn't it?"

The Bridge Bunnies nodded enthusiastically.

"Patch it through, Claudia," Gloval nodded at her and she complied.

The last strains of thousands of people singing _Happy Birthday_ came through the speakers.

Then came Minmei's voice. "Oh, thank you, thank you! Standing before you all today is the best present I could get!"

There was thunderous applause.

"And now, I dedicate this song to all of you," Minmei told them as the strains of the _Small White Dragon _theme filled the Bridge, followed by Minmei's clear voice.

_You have to say one thing for that girl,_ Claudia thought, _she certainly has the crowd eating out of her hand!_

As the oriental sounds of _Small White Dragon_ died away the tempo when straight into _To Be In Love_, Minmei's most successful hit.

"_To be my love,_

_To share a dream,_

_With somebody you care about_

_Like no-one else._

_A special man,_

_A dearest man-"_

Lisa's eyes became unfocused and before her was a vision of Kyle. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't get rid of his image; it now came to her more than Rick's, even more than Karl's.

She could hear his calls for the war to stop and they seemed to resonate more and more strongly within her…

_No! _She told herself. _It can't happen, it __**won't**__ happen, I stand for everything he hates, he can never care for me_. Holding her arms around herself, tightly, she shook her head as if to shake the image from her mind. _I mustn't think about him anymore. I musn't…_

At that moment an alert spilt the air.

"What?" Lisa's eyes snapped back into focus, sirens started to chime and messages flooded into the Bridge, cutting off Minmei in mid-note.

"Thirty enemy cruisers are heading straight for us!" Vanessa reported. "They're moving in fast and all ready releasing attack squads."

"Call out the Veritechs," Gloval ordered.

Lisa opened the comm. net. "Attention all veritech squadrons, attention, we are under attack. All pilots to your veritechs, all pilots to Veritechs. The alien forces are coming from Sector Beta-three, move to intercept."

Lisa watched as the thirty alien cruisers came into view.

"Energy sensors detect they're aiming for us, sir!" Vanessa warned.

"Activate, pin-point barrier, now!" Gloval ordered.

"Roger," Claudia relayed the order and confirmed that three movable discs had been activated and were now hovering across the SDF-1, ready to intercept any high energy fire.

The Veritech squadrons had begun taking-off.

"This is Skull Leader," Roy radioed, "following co-ordinates to attack zone."

"Roger, Skull Leader," Lisa affirmed.

The other squadron leaders also confirmed their status, right up to…

"This is Vermillion Leader," Rick's voice sent a shiver of fear through Lisa.

_Oh, please, come back all right…_

"Moving to intercept attack groups four, five and six."

"Roger," Lisa all but whispered, then repeated herself, louder. She had to clear her mind of individuals, it was the only way.

"All veritech squadrons have made contact," she report, her voice devoid of all emotion.

* * *

Miriya, to her annoyance had been unable to get a ticket to the 'concert' nor trick an unsuspecting micronian out of theirs.

However, far be it for a Zentraedi to give up just because of unexpected problems.

The Star Bowl as it was called was at the centre of the first tier of the multi-layered city and was fortunately surrounded by some rather tall buildings.

In typically unthinking style, the micronians provided easy access to their bases, not only through unlocked doors, but by a series of ladders and balconies on the outside.

It was via these last two that Miriya reached the top of a building directly across from the Bowl and had a clear sight of the concert.

It turned out to be a good thing she hadn't actually got a ticket, as Minmei was displaying the micronian weapon of song to full effect. But from her vantage point Miriya could only hear muffled sounds.

With the sharp eyes, she squinted looking for her quarry, was he not there?

Miriya was startled by a sudden shaking of the entire vessel and almost tipped head over heels to the street below so far she had been leaning over the half-wall of the top of the building to see the concert.

Those in the Star Bowl seemed fearful and Minmei had stopped singing.

At that moment, the micronian she sought appeared, hurrying to Minmei and putting his hand on her arm.

Growing used to such disgusting displays, Miriya did not flinch, but watched as the male spoke to the female.

Then in a tremulous voice the 'song' began again, the male nodding in encouragement and the crowd beginning to join in.

Miriya's eyes widened, she had never seen the non-combatants of Zor's Fortress engage in weapons training before, but now…

And this song was a weapon that all but the baby micronians could engage in.

_We are in greater danger than we ever feared. _Miriya thought with a shudder.

* * *

In amongst the 1st and 7th Battalions at the front of Gerao's ship, the three spies and twenty Zentraedi defectors all micronised hid, three of four to a battle pod.

Bron seemed be having second thoughts. "How can we be so sure the micronians can defeat Khyron? They've never been up against him properly, he won't hold back this time."

"Look," Konda said, firmly, "it's too late to turn back now, this is the only chance we've got."

"That's right," Rico nodded, "we have to take it."

Bron convinced by his friends' words steeled his nerve.

At the back of the group, Khyron listened as reports flooded in.

"Our fellow ships are firing on the fortress and our attack teams are keeping their mecha from assisting. We should be in range of the _Daedeleus_ in twenty mil."

Khyron gave an impatient grunt, but did not demand that Gerao pick up the pace of his cruiser. He had learned from the disaster of his first battle with the micronians on this solar systems red planet.

"All soldiers prepared for battle?" He asked instead for the fourth time.

There was a chorus of "Yes, m'lord"s and Khyron nodded, satisfied for the time being.

_Soon micronians, very, very soon._


	17. Chapter 17

"_Sometimes I wonder about us as a species, Lisa, do we really care about love so much? Or is it violence we aspire to?" _Karl Riber in a letter to Lisa Hayes, January 12th, 2004

* * *

"Captain! One of the cruisers is heading directly for us!" Vanessa relayed in a tight voice. "It looks like it's going to ram us!"

"What?" Gloval got to his feet and hurried over to the threat board to see for himself.

Sure enough, one of the radar dots had picked up speed, heading directly for them, the other twenty-nine ships still firing.

Gloval debated his options. "Lisa, status report on the Veritechs?"

"They're all in our firing range, Captain," she reported, tersely. "Fighting is two heavy for them to retreat."

"High energy weapons are been fired at us every fifth of a second," Claudia called.

"Well, then, it looks like there's only one way," Gloval muttered, nodding. "Lisa prepare to execute the _Daedeleus Manoeuvre_. If we have to, we'll punch each and every one of those ships to bits."

Lisa nodded and immediately began relaying the instructions to the Destroid pilots and the technicians aboard the _Daedeleus_.

Claudia meanwhile issued orders to the ship's engine room and the Barrier HQ, while Sammie and Kim warned and directed all sectors.

Vanessa kept her eyes glued to the board. "Cruiser will be in range in one minute."

"We'll be ready," Gloval replied with steely resolved, turning to watch the approach cruiser as it bore down on them.

* * *

In amongst the trails of missiles and dazzlingly lines of lasers, Roy fought tooth and nail.

The enemy pods certainly didn't contain the cream of the alien forces crop, but there was so many of them it almost made up for that.

Roy looped around one pod taking it out from behind, then snapped into a turn to take out another coming from his nine o'clock.

"Gibson, you holding up?" He asked over the tac net, having lost sight of his wingman.

There was no answer.

"Skull Two, report position," he tried again.

There was still no response.

"Shit," cursed Roy, hoping the guy was just caught up in fighting and not dead. He mightn't care for the man personally, but that didn't mean…

Roy shook his head to clear the thoughts, there was no time for this, he had to keep his mind on the battle at hand.

Out the corner of his eye he noticed the sudden movement of the SDF-1.

_Ah, good ol' _Daedeleus_,_ Roy thought as the huge fortress moved as if it were alive the _Daedeleus_ moving back like a boxer's arm then thrusting forward towards a break away alien ship.

Roy threw himself back into the fighting; three more pods were heading right for Skull Three and Four. But having dispatched them noticed a bizarre sight.

Usually the _Daedeleus_ entered the enemy ship, the Destroids set off their missiles and the SDF-1 moved clear.

But this time…it seemed to be hanging their, the carrier inside the cruiser, but no great explosion signally the latter's imminent destruction.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Roy muttered to himself, shaking his head.

* * *

The atmosphere at the Star Bowl had descended into near panic. The typical shakes and shudders of battle had increased more and more, now the floor beneath seemed to shake as if something large an ominous was coming their way.

But no warnings had gone out to evacuate, in fact no word at all had come from the Bridge.

Minmei broke off singing as there was a deafening explosion and the power gave out, plunging the stage into darkness.

She looked about in terror, wanting to run, but Kyle put an arm around her shoulders.

"Minmei, you can't stop, you've got to sing, it's the only way to keep everyone calm," he urged her.

"Bu-but Kyle, I'm so scared," she whimpered.

"I know, but so are they," he gestured to the crowd. "Minmei, you have to sing, sing with your whole heart and soul."

Kyle's words struck a cord in her and she nodded. "O-OK."

At these words Kyle gave her a wide smile then turned to the crowd, cupping his hands around his mouth, he shouted. "Everyone, resume your seats! We're gonna continue the concert, so please remain calm! We're safe here!"

The concert production team got the power back on the line and Minmei began singing _Small White Dragon_, perhaps its lyrics would provide hope and calm.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kyle smiling and nodding her on.

* * *

"Section A to Bridge! Alien pods are aboard we can't – ugh!"

"They've breeched levels 15 to 10! We're trying to hold them –"

"Bridge, they're heading for the city!"

"Turn it off," Gloval shouted, Claudia immediately cut the transmissions.

"I can't believe this," he shook his head, berating himself for not having seen this possibility. _They've always fought so conservatively,_ he thought, _what brought on this ingenuity?_

"Captain!" Kim called from her screen, which still showed the carnage been wrought by the invading pods. "They're almost into Macross City!"

"There's not enough Destroids in the ship to stop them!" Sammie cried.

Gloval whirled to face Lisa. "Lisa, call the Veritechs, we need as many in the ship as we can get!"

Lisa nodded. "SDF-1 to all veritechs, we are under attack from within! Repeat, there are aliens **inside** the ship! Skull Leader send as many fighters as you can spare to the bay doors, over!"

"Roger, SDF-1," Roy's voice crackled over the tac net. "Vermillion and Black Teams proceed to the SDF-1."

Lisa watched as Rick's team flew into view and Claudia ordered the bay doors open to allow access. It was up to the Vermillion and Black now.

* * *

For the second time, Miriya was almost sent catapulting over the half-wall to her death.

This time though, it wasn't from lasers hitting the ship, but from battle pods themselves bursting onto the city streets.

Miriya was stunned, last she knew the command had all but banned any **direct** attack on Zor's Fortress, but now here they were.

She caught a flash of an Officer's Pod letting loose beams of laser fire every which way and smiled grimly. _So, Azonia __**didn't**__ behead him,_ she thought, wryly.

One thing was for sure, she could not remain in such a vulnerable position, loathe as she was to let the ace who had bested her out of her sight again she turn and ran to the ladder that would take her back down the building.

As soon as her feet hit the ground she ran, looking for a safe spot to observe her fellow Zentraedi and see how they matched up against the micronians.

It didn't really seem to be a fair fight, the pods, towering above the enemy and their buildings, simply smashed on through regardless.

All of a sudden there was a different sound in the air and Miriya looked up, the micronians had brought in their mecha. She watched as they converted into that body like configuration and trained their gun and laser turrets on the invaders.

Miriya wondered could the micronian ace have got to his mecha so quickly? _What speed he must have!_

She didn't see him among the micronian mecha and it would be hard to miss with its distinctive yellow and black colour scheme and the skull and crossbones that accompanied them.

Miriya decided to keep searching, he and his mecha **must** be somewhere, and she would find him.

* * *

Rico, Konda and Bron looked for a good place for themselves and the five accompanying pods to ditch their mecha.

"We have to get out of these things," Konda spoke over the radio, "otherwise we'll probably be taken out by the micronians!"

It proved difficult to keep their comrades in order, as their first sight of the micronian society so overwhelmed them.

"What **are** all these structures?"

"Why are there so many different coloured lights?"

"What are those oddly shaped organic structures?"

"Where's Minmei?"

"Look!" Rico all but yelled into the radio. "We'll explain about all this stuff once we're safe. There's no time now, just follow us all right?"

The Zentraedi in the five pods fell silent and followed after the three spies pod; they ducked their mecha into what seemed to be a deserted hallway.

"All right," Rico nodded, "this will do, all Zentraedi, leave your pods."

It was with excitement on the defectors part and apprehension on the spies' that the latches a top of the battle pods opened and Zentraedi string the thickness of micronian rope was thrown over and the micronised Zentraedi climbed down to the metal floor.

As the floor shook with the pounding of giant mecha's feet and the firing of weapons. Konda held up a hand.

"We better keep out of sight for the time being," he instructed, "with the battle going on all the micronians will be in shelters. We'll have to wait 'til they come out to declare ourselves."

The renegade Zentraedi agreed, but deep down Rico, Konda and Bron wondered if at the end of this there would be anyone to declare themselves **to**.

* * *

Most of the people in Macross City were nowhere near a shelter; they were still in the Star Bowl trying to remain calm in the face of silence from the Bridge and the explosion from the battle raging **inside **their ship.

"_To be in love,_" Minmei and the crowd sang, "_my hero, he must take me where no other can…_"

"Come on, Minmei, keep going," Kyle urged her; "you're doing great."

But all of a sudden, Minmei stopped with a horrified gasp.

Two enemy battle pods had appeared just over the top of the Bowl. A shudder ran through her as she recalled the last time she had been so close to the aliens…she almost hadn't made it.

The crowd was turning in their seats to see what was happening, many letting out screams and cries of horror.

Kyle ran to Minmei's side again, pushing the microphone towards her. "Don't stop now, Minmei! You have to keep singing, you **have** to!"

Her voice trembling and tears in her eyes, Minmei picked up the song.

And amazingly, it seemed to be working!

"Yeah, that's right, they won't hurt us, just keep going!" Kyle urged her on.

"_Where we will find a brand new world_," Minmei's voice picked up strength. "_A world of things we've never seen before-!_"

At that moment a giant explosion nearby set the ground shaking with the intensity of an earthquake and loosed from the top of the stage one of the heavy spotlights.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion, the microphone seeming to float rather than fall as she dropped it, but Minmei seemed unable to move.

Suddenly, Kyle was there, pushing her out of harm's way, but getting caught in it himself, the spotlight thudding violently against his skull, knocking him out instantly.

As he slumped onto Minmei she couldn't hold his weight and they both fell to the floor, Kyle pinning her down.

The crowd in the Bowl had leapt to their feet as one and were now running every which way to escape.

"Kyle!" Minmei shook his shoulder, trying to move him off her. "Kyle, wake up! Oh, somebody, help us, please!"

* * *

Khyron was in his element, his blood pounding through his veins, his eyes bright with conquest.

"Show no mercy!" He yelled to his troops. "Destroy everything that moves! There's nothing to stop us now, we can do as we wish!"

He took pleasure in crushing the small vehicles that lined the pathways and shooting into the structures on either side.

He had all but forgotten the primary objective of securing micronians for Dolza to interrogate, but figured he'd cross that hurdle when he came to it.

Suddenly, he saw an odd sight…three pods had broken formation and almost ran him down, crossing the pathway in front of him.

"What's the meaning of this?" He demanded, shaking a fist at them, though they could not see him do so. "Where do you three think you're going? Get back into ranks!"

"Sorry m'lord," one answered, "but we were trying to find Minmei."

"Minmei?" Khyron repeated, unfamiliar with the term. "What is this 'Minmei'? What are its ballistic capabilities?"

The three Zentraedi actually **laughed**!

"Oh no, m' lord, Minmei's not a **weapon**," one said.

"She's a micronian female!" The Zentraedi behind the first informed him.

"We can't wait to see her and hear her sing!" The high voice of the third Zentraedi seemed to be shaking with excitement.

" '**SING**?' "Khyron demanded. "What the devil-?!"

"It's a micronian activity and Minmei is the one who sings for the rest of them."

"We have to see for ourselves."

Khyron's eyes were wide and he shook his head. "This is **madness**," he hissed almost to himself.

* * *

"It **is** him!" Miriya gasped, stopping in her tracks.

She was before an observation window where a battle still raged outside the ship.

And there in amongst the score of battle pods was the ace. He flew rings around his enemy, dispatching them with well-placed laser and gun fire.

Miriya winced at the pathetic showing of her race, no wonder they were losing!

Her fingers curled into fists as she watched him, her nails digging into her palms, memories of her defeat fresh and searing.

"There is no doubt," she added to herself, darkly.

* * *

Rick was fighting his heart out, and icy terror had gripped it since hearing the report that the aliens had entered the SDF-1.

Now he was in the nearly unrecognisable street of Macross struggling against the enemy as the sought to destroy him.

Max and Joseph Hart had disappeared, leaving him entirely on his own.

Somersaulting over the heads of two pods that tried to pin him in, he converted to Guardian and hit the thrust, screaming down the streets, the pods in pursuit. Quick as a flash he returned to Battloid mode and spun around, Gatling blaring sending his two pursuers into oblivion.

"Hold on, Minmei!" He yelled, running the Battloid at full tilt for the Star Bowl. "I'm coming!"

He met little resistance as he raced to the stadium and was surprised and immensely relieved when he saw how little it was damaged.

Two pods were there, it was almost as if they were guarding the place. Rick opened fire on them, but they scattered, unwilling to face him it seemed.

His way now clear, Rick searched for Minmei inside the Bowl. _Where is she? Is she in a shelter all ready, or is she…_

Then he spotted her, she was kneeling below the stage in front of someone who was leaning back against it, as if for support.

Rick suddenly realised it was Kyle and he appeared to have been injured, Minmei had a handkerchief in hand and was mopping at an oozing gash on his forehead.

Rick was about to open the tac-net and announce his presence and offer to get them to a shelter when suddenly Kyle got a strange, dreamy look on his face.

And he reached out, enfolding Minmei in his arms and pressing his lips to hers in a passionate kiss.

Rick reeled in his seat, stomach churning, he couldn't believe it. _This is worse than her movie! Minmei how __**could**__ you?_

She didn't answer him, she didn't even know he was there after all; she was too absorbed with Kyle to care.

"Lieutenant Hunter! Vermillion Leader, this is the Bridge, come in!" Suddenly Lisa's voice came through the speaker, jolting Rick from the spectacle before him.

"Vermillion Leader, roger," he answered, blandly.

"You haven't been reporting in, where are you?" Lisa demanded, sounding concerned, but Rick barely noticed.

"I'm at the Star Bowl, Minmei and Kyle are here, you better alert the medics to come help them."

"What?!" Lisa's voice shot up. "Why? What's happened? Tell me! Has something happened to Kyle?! Answer me, Rick!"

But Rick was too deep in despair to notice Lisa's panic and merely said. "I'm heading to intercept bogies still aboard." With that he snapped off the tac-net.

With his blood pounding through his veins, Rick whirled the Battloid around and with a yell that was more like a primal scream raced off into the streets to find and destroy the enemy.

* * *

"What the devil is going on in there, Exedore?" Breetai demanded.

The assault on Zor's Fortress seemed to have completely collapsed, Khyron has not reported in for some eighty mil.

Exedore, receiving reports from the techs, was shaking his head. "I don't believe this m'lord," he spoke, "I don't know how it's possible!"

"What? What is it?"

"Reports are showing the 1st and 7th Battalions attack formations have completely broken up! And Khyron appears to be attacking his own men!"

"**What**?!" Breetai's furious roar was so loud it almost shook the command centre. "Patch me through! I don't care **how** you do it!"

The Command vessel sent out a high-frequency wide-ranging radio signal that got Khyron and probably the whole of the 1st Imperial Fleet and Zor's Fortress as well.

"Khyron, stop this immediately or you'll be executed the mil you return to your ship!" Breetai ordered.

"Traitors," Khyron hissed, as though through clenched teeth. "Deserters! Cowards!"

Exedore backed away as Breetai's blue face became a mottled purple. "Say that again," he spoke in a deadly calm voice.

"My troops are deserting!" Khyron clarified. "They've broken ranks! They **claim** to want to experience micronian life!"

"I don't believe it!' The colour drained from Breetai's face, leaving him almost white.

"You **don't**, well just listen!" Khyron growled, patching him in to the battle frequency. The sounds of terrified Zentraedi came through the comm.

"I beg of you, Lord Khyron, stop!"

"We mean no disrespect; we just want to see what its like!"

"See? **See**?!" Khyron demanded, sounding as if he was punching at his control panel. "Base cowards!"

"Cease firing to kill!" Breetai demanded, shocking Exedore. "I want you to round up the would-be-deserters and lock them up. We'll get to the bottom of this behaviour."

Khyron was incredulous. "**Lock the up**? They are traitors, Breetai, traitors to the Zentraedi!"

"Do it, Khyron, or I will kill you myself."

* * *

"Sir, the enemy is retreating back towards the _Daedeleus_!" Vanessa's voice shook with disbelief.

Captain Gloval himself was weak at the knees.

"They've done it again," Claudia was shaking her head, "they nearly had us and they pulled back!"

"We can only thank heavens for small favours," Gloval commented, all but crumbling into his command chair with relief.

"Sir, reports are coming in from City Blocks A, K and L," Sammie's voice penetrated his relief. "They're reporting extensive damage."

"Reports of heavy casualties in the _Daedeleus_, sir," Kim added, sombrely.

"Vanessa, is the enemy clear?" Gloval looked over at her.

"Yes, sir."

"Claudia, move the SDF-1 hard astern and isolate the _Daedeleus_, we can't risk depressurisation."

Claudia flinched, knowing that if anyone in the _Daedeleus_ **had** survived the aliens' onslaught, they wouldn't for much longer, but it was the only way. "Roger, sir," she nodded and began relaying the orders.

Within seconds the SDF-1's massive thrusters were pulling them away from the alien ship, leaving a massive hole and a tangle of cables in its wake.

"Withdraw to Sector Sigma," Gloval ordered, "keep Earth in battle range, there's no telling, after today's display, the enemy could try attacking **it** next."

There was a sharp intake of breath from the Bridge Bunnies.

"Lisa," Gloval turned to her, noticing with concern how quiet she had been. "Please call the veritechs home."

She complied, but her voice sounded lost and faint.

Gloval got to his feet, walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. "It's been a rough battle; do you wish to be relieved of your post now?"

He was shocked not only by her words, but by the lost look in her eyes when she turned to him.

"Thank you, sir."


	18. Chapter 18

"_O, wonder!  
How many goodly creatures are there here!  
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,  
That has such people in't!"_

Shakespeare's _The Tempest_ _Act 1 Sc V_

_

* * *

  
_

The explosions and shaking seemed to be over and slowly, cautiously, the three spies looked out into the city beyond.

"I think it's clear," Bron muttered.

"You mean, the micronians did it? They defeated, Khyron?" Mardul asked, excitedly. "I can't believe it!"

Cheers rose up among the renegade Zentraedi." Hooray for the micronians! Hooray!"

Rico turned putting a finger to his lips. "Shut up! We're not in the clear yet, we still need to find the proper authorities. Let's go."

As they stepped out of the deserted service passage and got a clear picture of what had happened to Macross, the mood fell.

"Oh no," One of them, Benaro whispered, "did **we** do all this?"

The city looked nothing like Rico, Konda and Bron had described, at least not anymore.

Many of the shop buildings were crushed, the non-combat vehicles overturned and those structures called 'trees' upended.

"This is a bad idea," Karita spoke, shakily, "when they find out who we are..."

They walked through the city streets, looking for someone official.

"Shouldn't we get some micronian clothes?" Fulul asked from the rear of the group. "We don't look anything like them!"

Rico heaved as sigh. "That's the **point**, we –"

"Look there's some!" One of the defectors called and with a thundering of footfalls the twenty had rushed over to a broken shopfront. Mannequins in the broken glass windows had been knocked to the floor.

"Hey! Stop that!" Bron chided, but the defectors didn't heed them, hurrying on inside.

"You have **pay** for those!" Rico called, but it was useless.

The three spies hurried in to stop them, but it proved impossible.

They had, at least, learned from Bron's mistake (which Rico and Konda enjoyed telling over and over) and all were pulling on trousers or shorts.

"Wow, these uniforms are so comfortable!"

"What're they made of?"

"There's so many kinds to choose from!"

"Ugh!" Konda wracked his hands through his purple hair.

Soon the twenty Zentraedi were all dressed, if somewhat haphazardly, in appropriate male micronian attire.

"All right, let's go," Rico ordered them, leading the way out of the shop to continue their search.

In the distance appeared large micronian vehicles, all with yellow flashing lights, once they came to a stop, orange suited micronians climbed out holding an array of tools.

"Oh, wow, are they 'rebuilding' all ready?"

"That's amazing!"

"Ok, then, we can reveal our identities to them," Konda suggested to Rico and Bron, who nodded in agreement.

Reaching the micronian team, the three spies immediately walked over to the one with the most stripes on his jacket selves, a micronian indicator of rank.

"Excuse us," Konda, who had been unofficially elected as the group's speaker, signalled for the man's attention.

"Huh? Where'd you guys blow in from?" The male cocked an eyebrow at them in their rough blue togas.

"We are Zentraedi," Konda plunged in, "we come in peace."

"What the **Hell**?" The male's eyes boggled. "Is this some sort of joke 'cause it ain't funny."

"No, we're serious," Konda said, to Rico and Bron's nods, "we need to speak to the head of this vessel immediately."

"Lemme get this straight," the male held up a large calloused hand. "You're aliens and you want to be taken to our **leader**?" He shook his head. "Get outta here."

"Twenty-three of us have come," Konda pressed, "as you can –"

He broke off as he and his friends turned. Where twenty Zentraedi had been before there was only empty space.

"Whaaa-?" The three aliens gaped.

"Aliens, right," the male snorted, "why don't you go over there –" he pointed to a group of white uniformed micronians – "and tell 'em **aaaalll** about it."

"Uh, OK," Konda said, still stunned.

The three spies walked over to the white uniformed micronians, hoping against hope that their brethren weren't causing **too** much trouble.

* * *

Rick climbed out his Veritech feeling completely worn out by the events of the battle and the sight he'd seen of Minmei.

"Rick," Roy called, jumping out of Skull One and rushing over to him. "You did good, Little Brother," he slapped him on the back; "Macross owes you."

Rick gave a grunt.

"Fokker," a pilot nodded to Roy as he and Rick passed.

"Gibson," Roy returned the nod, then turned back to Rick. "Did you lose anyone?" He asked, as if trying to pinpoint the reason for his Little Brother's dour mood.

"No."

"I'm not looking forward to seeing the city, though," Roy shook his head. "It's gonna be a complete nightmare."

"You bet," Rick mumbled.

Roy put a hand on his shoulder and the two of them came to a half. "OK, spill the beans, what's got to you?"

Rick considered shrugging off Roy's hand, after all his Big Brother would only say what he had before, but…

"It's Minmei."

Roy was immediately concerned. "She all right? If she's at the hospital you have my permission to leave duty. Or we can check for her name on the network and see what shelter she's in."

Rick shook his head. "It's not that, she's fine, Kyle was slightly injured."

"Well, I mean the guy might be a jerk, " Roy shrugged, "but I'm glad he's gonna be OK."

"Oh, he will be, Minmei will see to that."

Roy gave him a look that all but commanded him to explain.

"She's in love with him," Rick sighed heavily, "with Kyle."

"Her **cousin**?" Roy looked stunned.

"A second cousin," Rick felt the need to Minmei, "Max and Lena aren't actually her aunt and uncle, she just calls them that."

Roy shrugged again. "Well, whatever…but I though you were explaining just the other day about Minmei being too fickle?"

"I guess she's only that when it comes to me," Rick shook his head. "I can't believe it, Roy, I really can't."

"Are you sure about this? I mean, there was a battle going on, if they were leaning all over each other, maybe-"

"They were **kissing**, Roy," Rick objected, "and **not** platonically."

"Oh…"

"I just feel useless."

"Hey, none of that!" The strength in Roy's voice made him jump. "You're integral to this war effort, Rick, and to the lives of the people around you. I don't want to hear that kind of talk again, you got that?"

Rick looked up into his Big Brother's face. "Roger," he cracked a small smile.

Roy grinned back. "All right then, now let's go see if we can score a drink before –"

"Attention Lieutenant Hunter, Rick Hunter report to Bridge Conference Room Level Nine, immediately. Repeat…"

"Huh, what could they want **me** for?"

"Beats me, but step lively," Roy gave him a small push forward.

"What about you?"

"They haven't called me up, I can't just go bursting into any meeting when I feel like it, this smile will only get me so far." He gave Rick a cheesy smile.

"Oh, brother," Rick rolled his eyes.

"I'll tell you what, though, I'll walk you to level nine, I got someone on the Bridge I wanna meet anyway."

* * *

Minmei sat in a chair by Kyle's bedside, nervously fiddling with her handkerchief.

Kyle, a swathe of bandages around his head, lay sedated, although it was sure to wear off soon.

And Minmei worried about what she would say to him when he did.

The shock of him kissing her had sent her reeling and she had been frightened by the way he had all but pinned her arms to her sides. She had freed them though, and pushed him away, saying in no uncertain terms that he wasn't to do that again.

She and Kyle went back quite a way, their father's were actually cousins rather than brothers, but that was really just semantics, Minmei had always seen Kyle as…well…not a brother, but a protector. She certainly had never seen him in romantic terms and it was uncomfortable that **he** would see her that way.

Minmei was not looking for a boyfriend; while she did still harbour the dream of one day getting married she didn't see it happening for a very, **very** long time.

Sighing, she wondered where Kyle's parents were she hoped they were all right, the phone lines and communication systems were down so she couldn't even call to find out and tell them Kyle was OK.

Looking down, she realised, suddenly that her handkerchief was bloody and gasping, she dropped it. She didn't want to think about blood and war, anymore, even if it was all around her.

* * *

"Sun, surf, sea," Roy drawled, "who needs it! We've got here!"

He and Claudia had met up in the corridors just below the Bridge, meeting in a fierce embrace.

"Oh yes, gunmetal walls and alien walls, what more do we need," Claudia joined in on the joke, although still a little shaken from the battle.

"So, my darling wife, what should we do now? Dance the night away, visit a spa, help rebuild the shattered city."

Claudia winked at him. "I know what I **want** to do, but also know what we **should** do."

Roy laced his arm through hers. "To the city."

It was a short walk to total devastation, Roy hadn't expected it to be so bad, the _Prometheus_ and military sectors of the SDF-1 excepting the _Daedeleus_ had been relatively unscathed, but Macross City had been nearly destroyed.

"Geeze, I wonder how many we lost this time," Roy muttered, shaking his head.

"It's horrible," Claudia agreed, then set her shoulders back determined. "They definitely need al the help they can get, let's get to it."

The two of them headed to one of the many maintenance trucks and identified themselves to the head of the crew though it really wasn't necessary.

"Commander Fokker, Lieutenant Grant," the man greeted them with a salute.

"None of that right now," Roy waved the salute off, "what can we do to help up the pieces of this place."

The man smiled, looking slightly surprised at the request, but quickly consulted his clipboard. "What we really need is to repair the water pipes, you know anything about welding?"

"Please," Roy rolled his eyes, "I was a private pilot."

"My brother's an engineer," Claudia added, "he taught me a thing or two."

"All right then," the man grinned, "go to Lambert over there and he'll set you up."

* * *

Walking through the crumbled streets, Miriya decided to make the best out of the micronian's plight.

Just about every shop in the city had broken windows or blown in doors and there was one shop in particular she was interested in.

Miriya was well versed in what the micronians called 'shoplifting', after all she had to get food from somewhere. She chose not to think too much about that, though. Originally, the taste of the multitude of food types the micronians had made her gag, as the lon passed however, she had to admit, if only subconsciously, that the tastes were becoming more and more appealing to her.

Her destination came into view, _Li Fung's Antiquities _front display window was in shards.

She took a quick look around, the street was mostly deserted and the few micronians who did pass by took no notice of her.

Her sharp eyes raked across what remained of the window display, searching, hoping…

"Ah!" She exclaimed, softly to herself, there they were the fighting knives she had so admired. Her hands snaked out almost too fast to see, and the knives and their sheaths were in her possession.

She stuffed them down her boots before turning and walking swiftly, but calmly on.

She now had the weapons; all she needed was to face her adversary.

"…hit by a stage light!" She picked up a conversation of two females in front of her. "Poor guy! I just want to kiss it all better."

"Yeah, right! As if Minmei would let you do **that**."

"It was only a movie, they were just acting."

"**Suuure**."

The two females burst into high pitched laughter, a popular female micronian past time.

Miriya's brow furrowed 'stage light'? She knew what those two words meant separately, but together…?

She visualised the Star Bowl, with the large lights hanging above the platform at the bottom, the 'stage'.

_But that would mean…_

It wasn't possible! She had seen her quarry fighting in space, but from the way the females talked, it seemed that this Lynn Kyle had never left the Star Bowl.

Confusion flooded through her, Miriya prided herself on (among other things) her ability to work things out, especially her enemies.

_Have I been wrong all along?_

* * *

Breetai paced the command bubble, hands clenched tightly behind his back and a dark look in his eye.

"Traitors? Zentraedi?" He growled. "How could this be? It's never happened to us before."

He turned to Exedore.

"The records are not clear, m'lord, but perhaps **this** is why the Robotech Masters were so savage in their warnings."

"We can't have it, Exedore!"

Exedore swallowed, nervously, knowing his commander would not like what he had to say next at **all**.

"A count of the 1st Division shows twenty-three of our troops missing-"

"An acceptable loss," Breetai grunted, "why bother telling me?"

"**Because**, m'lord only **six** pods have been reported missing."

Breetai's brow furrowed.

"Thirty-five were destroyed in battle; ten were destroyed by Khyron, but those six, m'lord…"

"What are saying, Exedore?"

"The only way it can be accounted for is if twenty-three of **our** soldiers micronised themselves and went three or so to a pod."

"**Our** soldiers? You mean to tell me this mutiny has its roots in **my** ship?"

"I'm afraid so, m'lord," Exedore trod as carefully as he could with Breetai towering over him, especially with the next piece of information. "Among the defectors are our three spies, Officers Rico, Konda and Bron."

Breetai let out a roar of fury and punched his command chair viciously, but evidentially still held back, since the chair did not fall apart. "**Damn them**!" he cursed, "How could they turn against us like this?"

"I believe it is the micronian lifestyle, m'lord, to some of our weaker brethren it can exert an irresistible pull."

Breetai turned away from him. "Dolza cannot hear of this."

"M'lord?" Exedore gasped, what Breetai has said was almost as shocking as Zentraedi defecting.

"He cannot know we have had deserters…**yet**," he added, as if this softened the suggestion. "We have to fulfil our mission."

"I doubt we will be able to pull off the same manoeuvre twice," Exedore murmured. "How can we capture micronians then?"

"We'll think of something," Breetai replied, but with none of his usual firmness, his eye was unfocused, as if his mind were on something else.

Exedore felt an unaccountable warning go through him, sensing that the Zentraedi were heading for a point of no return.

* * *

Rick had watched as Roy went off to be with Claudia and cursed, hoping he wasn't in for some kind of disciplinary hearing. Had Lisa flipped over his lack of protocol on the tac-net?

Well, he'd soon find out, after loitering for a good five minutes outside the conference room, he walked into view of the sensor, signalled his presence and was admitted.

It was a lot brighter in there then in the corridor and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust and when they did, they widened in surprised.

Not only were Captain Gloval and Lisa there, but so was Max and Colonels Maistroff and Caruthers.

And in three chairs facing the officer's table were three men, all dressed in what appeared to be blue sack cloths. One seemed to have dyed his hair purple, which Rick found bizarre (no disrespect intended to Max), but far more odd was the greyish skin tone of the one seated next to him. Rick could only hope it wasn't some sort of symptom of a contagious disease.

"Ah, Lieutenant Hunter, you have joined us," the Captain greeted him.

"**Finally**," Rick thought he heard Maistroff mumble; he rendered his salute none the less.

"Reporting, sirs…ma'am…uh, what's going on her?"

Captain Gloval got to his feet and indicated the three men. "These, Lieutenant, are Zentraedi," he said without preamble.

"Wha-?! That's ridiculous!" Rick spluttered. "Uh…sir."

"No, it's true," one of the men, heavy set with thick red hair turned to face him. "We've been micronised."

"**Micronised**, what the heck is that?"

Lisa cleared the throat. "It's true, Lieutenant, remember those chambers we saw on the alien's battle cruiser? There function is to resize Zentraedi depending on the situation."

"Resize…you mean **shrink** them, that's just –" Rick had been about to say impossible, but then considered everything he'd gone through since arriving on Macross Island all those months ago.

"It's nice to see you again, Lieutenant," the purple haired one spoke up.

Rick raised his eyebrows.

"Yes," the one with the grey skin added, "after all, it was not too long ago **you** were in this position."

And suddenly, it clicked.

"Wait! You were part of that interrogation team!" He pointed at them. "What are you doing here? Are you spying on us or what?"

"Oh no," the grey skinned one shook his head, "at least not anymore."

"**Anymore**?"

"You see, Lieutenant," Gloval spoke, "these gentlemen were previously inserted on our ship as spies to gather information that could be used against us –"

"But we loved your society so much -" the purple haired one broke in.

"That we just couldn't help ourselves -" the stocky one interrupted.

"We had to come back," the grey skinned one finished.

"I see…" Rick was stunned, the enemy had inserted **spies** aboard and Command had never even suspected it? "So you're tellin' me you want to stay here **permanently**? Why should we let you?"

"**Exactly**," Maistroff burst out, thumbing his fist on the table. "The entire notion is ridiculous!"

"Thank you, Colonel," Captain Gloval's voice was steely, "you opinion is noted, but we want to hear **yours**, Lieutenant Hunter."

"Why mine? I'm not Brass, I'm not even CAG."

"We want yours because you, Commander Hayes and Lieutenant Sterling are the only ones aboard who have had close contact with the aliens," Gloval explained.

_And Ben_, Rick added to himself, imagining briefly how Ben would probably find the whole conference hilarious and wouldn't be afraid to say so

"So, tell us, do you believe the Zentraedi can live peacefully with us?"

Rick looked from face to face, neither Max, nor Lisa gave anything away, Gloval only looked curious, Maistroff and Caruthers, furious and the three Zentraedi…

Rick's first thought was to say 'Not on your **life!** But the three before him, weaponless and human-sized looked almost like any other citizen on the ship, blue sacks notwithstanding.

"Can I ask them something?" He gestured to the three.

Gloval nodded.

"Why do you want to be here? What's so wonderful about it that you would desert your own race and risk been imprisoned or killed by us?"

"The things you have here a so amazing," the grey skinned one began. "Shops, 'entertainment' –"

"Movies, dancing-"

"Males and females **together**," the purple haired one's voice was awestruck.

"Males and females," the other two echoed.

"There is one of your kind who even speaks out against war!"

Rick couldn't help a slightly sour look coming to his face.

"And there's singing of course," the stocky one nodded to the others.

"We love to hear singing," the purple haired one confirmed.

"It's the best!" The grey skinned one enthused, a wide grin on his face, then he looked serious. "And most of all, you micronians know the secrets of Protoculture."

_There's that word again,_ Rick thought, _what does it even __**mean**__?_

It seemed Colonel Caruthers read his mind because he asked. " 'Protoculture' what is that?"

The aliens, who had turned towards Rick, now whipped around to look at Caruthers.

"You know **exactly** what Protoculture is," the purple haired one spoke, sharply.

"Yeah," the stocky one gave a nod.

"It's not nice to fool around with us like that," the grey skinned one actually waggled a finger at the Colonel.

"**Ahem**," Gloval broke in, swiftly changing the subject, "so, Lieutenant Hunter, have you formed an opinion on weather we should grant this three men, Rico, Konda and Bron –" he pointed each one out – "and the twenty others that have also come, asylum?"

Rick was momentarily thrown by the mention of twenty **other** Zentraedi aboard, but he brushed it aside. "Well, I guess if they wanna stay, let 'em stay," he shrugged.

"Hooray!" The three burst into shouts of glee and leapt out of their seats, hugging each other and pumping their fists in the air.

"Now wait just a minute!" Maistroff roared, slamming both hands on the table as he got to his feet. "Have you all lost your minds? Do you know who these…these…**things** are? What they've **done**?!"

Rick set his jaw and looked Maistroff right in the eye. "I sure as Hell **have**, I've been right in the middle of it…what about **you**?"

He saw Lisa out the corner of his eye clap a hand to her forehead.

Maistroff turned a bright red, but Gloval put up his hand. "Now just a moment ago, you seemed virulently opposed to the idea, now you are for it, may we have your reasons?"

"Certainly, sir, it's obvious the aliens have never experienced a life like ours. They were bred for war and on board their cruisers all they're permitted do is prepare for the next battle. There's non entertainment, there's no community, but they've seen how we live and they want it, so I think we should let them. If a whole group of them have come here, maybe more will defect to."

"Good **lord**, man!" Caruthers had leapt to his feet too. "You're talking about living with **aliens**!"

"They may look like us, Lieutenant," Maistroff said, darkly, "but don't let them fool you. I wouldn't be surprised if the entire thing is a ruse, they spied on us before, now they're doing it again."

"We're not!" The three cried, and looked about pleadingly.

"Colonels," Lisa spoke, "please, Lieutenants Hunter, Sterling and I have seen the alien society, if you could call that. The Zentraedi have no notion of peace, at least not until these three infiltrated. Now, they have spread the word to their fellow aliens and twenty of them have all ready embraced the idea. If we grant them asylum the rest of the fleet might learn the meaning of peace too, this could be the only way to end this war."

Rick was moved by the passion in Lisa's voice, but Maistroff clearly wasn't, he clapped his handers together sarcastically and sneered. "A fine speech, Commander Hayes, sit around the peace pipe and hope all goes well, is that it? Not in the real world."

Anger bubbled in Rick._ Who does that jerk think he is, talking to Lisa like this?_ He was about to ream out the guy and damn the consequences when the door slid open and a member of the Robotechnology Group hurried in a clipboard of notes in hand.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Maistroff seemed to want to pick a fight with anyone. "This is a private meeting, you can't just –"

Gloval held up a hand. "It's all right, Colonel, he is merely presenting a report I asked for. Thank you," he nodded to the scientist taking the clipboard. The scientist hadn't even left before Gloval began to skim the notes.

Rick, Lisa, Max, the three Zentraedi and two Colonels watched, curious and confused.

"Well, then," the Captain looked up, then passed the clipboard to Maistroff. "I think you should peruse this, it makes for **very **interesting reading."


	19. Chapter 19

"_What did you expect? _E.T_?!" _Roy Fokker to a group of new Veritech recruits after their first battle.

* * *

Miriya's thoughts were in a whirl, still going over what the micronian females had said.

But surely this 'Lynn Kyle' was the only micronian with skills that could rival hers.

_Perhaps_… Miriya frowned, thinking back to the Battle Footage. _Perhaps he has __**lost**__ his skills_, she surmised. _Were we in the Zentraedi fleet he would not live long, but these micronians, who tressure useless things, they would seek to protect him, valiantly hoping he would one day regain his abilities, or at least teach his to others._

Her green eyes narrowed, once again the micronians had shown a display of brilliance she would not have thought possible, they were such an erratic race!

_They have been keeping their best pilots secret, for fear that we may pick up their transmission,_ she realised, _not only that, they have used an old warrior as a ruse! Lons of searching __**wasted**__! _She kicked savagely at a broken tile, sending it across the street.

She looked about at all the micronians working feverishly to fix their broken city and came up with her own idea. No-one had seen her steal the knives; it stood to reason no-one would notice her enter the micronians' command facility, which was located not too many blocks away.

_With their love of meticulous filing and lengthy reports I will find him. I will destroy him. Then I will return to my Quadronos and rid the galaxy of these micronians once and for all._

_

* * *

  
_

"No! I don't believe it!" Maistroff slammed the clipboard down. "These tests indicate the aliens' genetic structure is nearly **identical** to ours!"

Rick, Lisa and Max looked at each other in surprise, sure the aliens **looked** human, but none of them had ever thought…

"**Precisely**," Gloval nodded as Caruthers, having picked up the report, shook his head. "You understand then, that we are all but fighting against ourselves."

"No, I **don't**," Maistroff snarled. "**We** are not naturally fifty feet tall and we **do not** go around savaging other planets."

Gloval cocked an eyebrow, while Lisa stiffened in her seat and Maistroff looked slightly embarrassed. "Mars notwithstanding," he added, offhandedly. "But that is not the point! None of us here has the authority to negotiate with the enemy, we need UEC approve for that."

"**Those** creeps?" Rick let slip.

Maistroff and Caruthers glared at him, but neither replied to that, at least not to Rick, Maistroff spoke to Gloval. "Until that time these…**men** and their twenty cohorts, should be rounded up, locked in the Brig and periodically interrogated."

Rico, Konda and Bron looked downtrodden.

Gloval shook his head. "You may remember, gentlemen, or perhaps not considering the alcohol you consumed that evening, that UEC washed its hands of us. I am free to do what I see fit aboard the SDF-1 and with the opinions and facts before me I declare all the aliens are hereby granted asylum."

Once again the three ex-spies leapt to their feet, cheering and hugging each other.

Maistroff growled. "Mark my words, Captain; you haven't heard the last of this."

With a nod to Caruthers, the two rendering no salute, turned and left the room.

Gloval shook his head. _Maistroff, Caruthers, you fools, you will doom us all_.

Rick had planned on walking solo with his dark thoughts of Minmei's betrayal.

But Lisa had come up to him at the end of the conference, to thank him for supporting the Zentraedi.

"Hey, if it ends the war, why not?"

Lisa nodded, but Rick noticed she was looking quit pale and he suddenly remembered what she had said to him about Kyle.

"Hey, Commander," he put a hand toward her and she looked up, "you don't have to worry about Lynn Kyle, he just got knocked on the head is all."

Lisa's green eyes widened and became a little brighter. "Really? He's all right, oh thank goodness!"

"Yeah," Rick shrugged, "so I guess I'll be seeing you."

Lisa actually gave him a small smile. "What? Is my company **that** grating?"

Rick looked at her in surprise. "What? No, of course not, I just figured that you'd go to the hospital, you know, to see how Lynn Kyle's holdin' up."

Lisa looked down at the ground. "The place will be a mad house with the battle we just had. Come on; let's see if we can help anyone out."

Rick shrugged again and fell into step beside her.

Upon entering the city hold, Rick shook his head. "Would you look at this place?" He felt a stab of guilt for having planned to spend the rest of his off-duty time pouting, instead of doing something constructive.

He and Lisa ended up at the _White Dragon_ and Rick immediately saw Max and Lena Lynn loitering in the doorway, wringing their hands.

"Max! Lena!" Rick called. "You two all right?"

The couple nodded. "We're fine m'boy," Max replied.

"But what about Kyle and Minmei?" Lena moaned fearfully.

"There's no need to worry," Rick told them, quickly, "Minmei and Kyle are fine, they're at Macross General –"

Lena and Max gasped. "If they're fine why are they there?" Lena cried.

"Well, Kyle got hit on the head," Rick's voice went slightly hard as he recalled the scene, "they just need to check him over, believe me he looked fine last I saw of him."

Max and Lena looked slightly relieved, then took another glance through the door into their restaurant, which was miraculously undamaged, but looking between them Rick could see the tables and chairs inside were in disarray.

"Can you help us, Rick?" Max suddenly asked. "We've got to get the restaurant up and running to help feed people, but…"

Rick saw where they were going and held up his hand. "Say no more, I'd be happy to put the place back in order for you."

"So would I," Lisa spoke up.

"Oh, thank you both so much," Lena cried, grabbing first Rick's then Lisa's hands in hers. Max then shook each of their hands and handed some keys to Rick before he and his wife dashed off.

"Well," Rick motioned Lisa ahead of him into the _White Dragon_, "there's a lot here so let's get to it." He went in search of a dustpan and broom while Lisa got a cloth and bucket.

"You know, I wish my father was here to see this," he told her as he began to sweep.

"Oh?" Lisa looked up from the table she was wiping and titled her head curiously. "Why?"

"He'd freak out seeing me clean voluntarily," Rick grinned and together they burst out laughing.

* * *

The Bridge Bunnies, despite their penchant for gossiping, had never been a discipline problem and so, they were surprised when three techs arrived on the Bridge to relieve them temporarily as Captain Gloval wanted to see them in his office.

"Oh, what do you think it's about?" Sammie, prone to panic as ever, wrung her hands. "I haven't told him not to smoke on the Bridge in **months**!"

Kim rolled her eyes, but she still looked worried.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Vanessa spoke reassuringly, but there was still doubt in her eyes.

The three signalled at the Captain's Office and were immediately admitted.

And could scarcely believe their eyes.

"Rico! Konda! Bron!" They cried in unison.

"Why are you **here**?" Vanessa gaped at them.

"Are you all right?" Sammie wanted to know.

"Where have you **been**?" Kim directed her question mostly at Konda.

The three were grinning at them, but they didn't answer, instead the Captain came around to the front of his desk.

"Girls," he began, "these gentlemen have some…interesting news for you," he seemed somewhat amused.

"Oh no! Don't tell me you guys are criminals!" Sammie suddenly shouted. "Did you steal that Minmei doll?"

The three snuck each other embarrassed looks.

"Um…well, we **did**," Rico admitted, "but that's not why we're here."

"Did you desert the military?" Vanessa folded her arms.

"We **did**," Konda admitted.

"But not the one you think," Bron added.

"Huh?" The Bridge Bunnies looked at each other, utterly bewildered.

"We're Zentraedi," Rico took the plunge.

"But we're not fighting anymore," Bron assured the girls.

"And we wanted to see you again and thank you for showing us dancing," Konda smiled.

"Whaat?!" The Bridge Bunnies stared at them with wide disbelieving eyes, then turned to the Captain.

"Why would you joke with us, Captain?" Vanessa demanded.

"Yeah, April Fools' Day isn't for **months**," Sammie objected, planting her hands on her hips, while Kim shook her head.

"It is no joke," the Captain met their eyes squared and Rico, Konda and Bron did not laugh either.

Colour draining from their cheeks, Sammie, Vanessa and Kim looked at each other.

"Zen-Zentraedi?" Kim stuttered, her voice faint. "But how are you **our **size?"

"Micronisation," Rico declared, he threw a look at Captain Gloval, "you really don't have it? But we've seen little micronians!"

"Yes, you females seem to carry them about, how did they get that size?"

"They don't **stay** that way," Sammie said before the Captain could speak. "They're babies, they grow into adults!"

Rico, Konda and Bron were the ones who looked shocked now.

"You mean…**you** were once that size?" Konda breathed, his eyes darting from the Bridge Bunnies to the Captain. "**All** of you?"

"You didn't grow up?" Vanessa asked, adjusting her glasses on her nose. "You were just **created** adults?"

"Of course," Bron nodded, "what other way is there?"

"Oh brother," Kim shook her head.

Captain Gloval allowed himself a brief smile of amusement.

"Well, girls, I'd say you have a lot of explaining to do with these gentlemen."

The Bridge Bunnies and ex-spies looked across at each other shyly.

Then suddenly an alarm rent the air.

"Oh no!" Vanessa cried. "We're under attack!"

"It'll have to wait, then," the Captain murmured, he turned to the ex-spies. "One of the scientists will be by to show you to your accommodation and the other Zentraedis too, if you can find them."

The ex-spies nodded.

"We'll see you again, soon," Vanessa promised them and Sammie and Kim nodded. Then all three waved and the Captain following they turned and ran for the Bridge.

* * *

Azonia had watched the events of the battle, the retreat and now new attack coming from the Zentraedi under Khyron's command with ill-concealed amusement.

"So!" She lifted her chin a proud gloating manner. "Lord Khyron failed his mission to destroy Zor's ship just as I knew he would." She laughed and turned to Yiata. "It is too amusing, is it not?"

Yiata was uncertain how to respond, revelling in the defeat of other Zentraedi, even **male** ones was not standard protocol. But then, Khyron pushed the limits of protocol himself.

"Yes, m'lady," she spoke finally.

"We would assist of course," Azonia drawled, savouring every word. "But I'm sure Khyron would object to my leadership!"

The techs below the bridge smirked, all having heard Khyron's jab and been affronted for their Commander's sake.

Suddenly, a beep signalling an incoming communication sounded.

"Put it up," she commanded Yiata.

Seloy Deparra appeared on screen, she thumped the left side of her chest with her right fist in salute. "M'lady!"

"Officer Seloy, what do you wish to report?"

"I overheard Lord Breetai's communication with Lord Khyron aboard Zor's Fortress," Seloy began.

"Who didn't?" Azonia sneered, remembering that particular display of battle sloppiness.

"Should we not be concerned that one of the deserters might recognise Captain Miriya and reveal her to the micronian fleet?"

Azonia's brow furrowed, it seemed a bizarre question to ask.

"Miriya knows the risks," she answered, waving a hand, "to be honest, I'm surprised she has not signalled to be picked up yet, perhaps she has failed."

Seloy reacted strangely to this; her face took on an almost pained look.

"Are you injured?" Azonia asked.

"No, m'lady," Seloy assured quickly, "should we make any move to assist the males in this latest attack?"

Azonia smiled grimly. "Whilst I know how eager you are to lead the Quadronos into battle, Officer Seloy, I ask that you wait for a more…**appropriate** time to assist."

"Yes, m'lady," Seloy nodded curtly, then saluting broke off the connection.

"Now," Azonia turned to Yiata, "let's enjoy Khyron face **another** defeat, shall we?"

* * *

It was times like this that Max wondered why the Command even bothered to declare any pilot as being off-duty. Max had barely left the Base after the conference with the three defectors when battle stations had sounded.

So here he was again, in space fighting against the aliens.

Max was in his element though, having converted to Battloid, his preferred veritech mode and was blasting pods into nothingness almost before they realised he had entered their line of sight.

Max kept an eye out for Joseph, but the guy was holding up well enough on his own.

The discussions that had occurred in the conference room had brought Ben to Max's mind. Not that he didn't think about Ben a lot, he could imagine how his friend would have be in howls of laughter over his infatuation with a girl he had never even met, and with green hair to boot.

But Max couldn't afford to think of Ben for long, not in the middle of combat.

He spotted Rick out the corner of his eye and could almost sense his friend's exasperation with the whole thing. As they had been taking off to make contact with the new attack wave, Max had heard him say a very sincere. "Go home!" to the aliens, not surprisingly, they hadn't complied.

But at the very least some Zentraedi seemed to be interested in making the **human's** home their own.

And it happened once again, all of sudden the aliens were retreating, returning to their ships.

"Looks like they've decided to call it a day," Max murmured over the tac-net.

"Thank God for that," he heard Rick mutter.

"This is Skull Leader," Commander Fokker's voice came over the tac-net next. "All veritechs return to the SDF-1, they've had enough it seems, and so have we."

Heaving a sigh, Max turned his blue Veritech and headed back.

His feet on solid ground again and nominally off-duty again, he headed into Macross City, which was still rebuilding even though it had to be around the middle of the night by now. But then, time meant very little in the blackness of space.

He sought out Mr. and Mrs. Dixon, whose laundry was located in one of the most damaged part of the city. Looking at the shattered windows, flattened cars and blackened shells of burned out buildings, he felt a shiver of fear, were Ben's parents OK?

"Max!"

He turned, and a relieved smile broke over his face, Mrs Dixon, standing beside her husband waved to him.

"Mrs. Dixon, Mr. Dixon!" He ran over to them, Mrs. Dixon giving him a warm hug. "I'm so glad you two are OK."

"We were at the Minmei Concert," Mr. Dixon told him, "Max and Lena Lynn invited us."

"Are the aliens really gone for now?" Mrs. Dixon asked, her face concerned.

"Seems so," Max nodded.

"Thank God," she sighed.

"The laundry's a complete write-off, though," Mr. Dixon spoke gruffly, nodding towards the remains of _Macross Laundry_, which was no more than blacked wreck of pre-fabricated metal.

"We'll rebuild, dear," Mrs. Dixon assured her husband, "you know we will."

Mr. Dixon grunted, but didn't meet his wife's eyes.

"Of course you will," Max nodded. "After all, **somebody** has to clean and press all the military uniforms, Lord knows most of the pilots can't do it."

Mrs. Dixon grinned and patted his cheek.

"Where will you two stay?" Max asked.

"The shelters are equipped for this sort of thing," Mr. Dixon turned back to him. "It shouldn't be too long, with the Mayor going at it like he is; I wouldn't be surprised if the whole city is put back together by morning."

Max smiled, it was a nice thought, but he knew it would be at least a week before everything was back together again.

He was about to offer to invite the Dixons' to the Mess, so they could at least get a decent breakfast when one of Mrs. Dixon's chattiest friends rushed up.

"Bernice! Frank! Oh, you won't **believe** this!"

"What is it, Claire?" Mrs. Dixon's eyes filled with fear. "Is someone…?"

"Oh no, no," Miss. Synder shook her head emphatically, then paused. "Well…I guess we don't know yet…but that's not hat I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is…**the aliens**."

Mr and Mrs Dixon turned to stare at each other, then looked at Max, but he couldn't think of what Miss. Snyder had to say.

"Apparently, they're still here, on our ship!"

Mrs. Dixon jumped and grabbed her husband's hand, he looked about, even though it seemed most unlikely any battle pod could have stayed hidden.

"Oh no, not in their battle machines," Miss Snyder went on, breathlessly, "and not fifty feet tall either! Apparently they can be shrunk to **our** size and now, some of them are **living** here! The Captain has given them asylum!

"**WHAT**?!" Mr. Dixon's face had immediately gone a darkish purple at this news. Mrs. Dixon by contrast had gone pale. Max meanwhile didn't know what to do, so looked at his feet.

"Aliens…**here** on **our** ship? And the Captain has allowed this?!"

Miss. Snyder nodded so hard Max was surprised her head didn't come off. "It's unbelievable, isn't it?! I don't know **what** the Captain was thinking!"

Max felt the need to defend Gloval. "Well…I'm sure the aliens in question surrendered themselves, there are conventions for that sort of thing."

Mr. Dixon turned to look at him as if he was mad, and Miss. Snyder gave a shrill laugh.

"As if that should make any difference!" She cried. "Those aliens are monsters, they've killed thousands of us, when they surrendered we should have just shot them!"

"That would have been too good for them," Mr. Dixon growled.

Max gulped.

He hadn't considered how the people of Macross City, how those who had lost loved ones both in the service and civilian would react to the news. Rico, Konda and Bron had seemed entirely harmless and sincere in their wish to integrate and the fact that the enemy could be won over to their side was a bonus too.

Obviously, though, not everyone was going to be happy about it…in fact, as he looked about at various Macross citizens talking to each other in heated voices, it looked like **most** people weren't.

"It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Mr. Carey who just happened to be walking by and had heard the tail end of Mr. Dixon's declaration joined in the conversation. "It's not like these are civilian aliens either! They're like God damn Nazi soldiers. They should be hung."

"They're really not," Max spoke quietly.

Neither Mr. Carey, Mr. Dixon nor Miss. Snyder heard him and continued their angry tirades.

Mrs. Dixon had remained silent and now she turned and took a few steps away, clasping her hands together as if in prayer. Max went over and touched her shoulder. "Are you all right, Mrs. Dixon?"

Mrs. Dixon turned to him; tears had begun falling from her eyes. "Oh, Max, I don't know **what** to think…but I do know, if not for the aliens, my Ben would never have joined the Defence force, he never would have been killed." She buried her face in her hands and began to sob.

Max felt tears sting his own eyes.

He could not blame the defecting aliens for Ben's death, he didn't know why, but he just couldn't. He understood Mrs. Dixon's pain though and put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him, her tears wetting his uniform jacket.

After a moment, Mr. Dixon noticed his wife's tears and hurried over to her, taking her in his own arms. "Bernice, my poor Bernice," he shook his head, "I swear," he muttered, darkly, narrowing his eyes. "If I ever find one of those aliens, I'll make them sorry they ever left their damn ship."

Mr. Carey and Miss. Snyder made sounds of agreement, but Max only looked away and as he did, he saw a flash of green hair.


	20. Chapter 20

"_Living with the micronians is not exactly what Rico, Konda and Bron promised us, I suppose that had to do with the fact that the first time they were aboard, the micronians never knew. Now they do…and not all of them are as welcoming as others." _Mardul Kioka, Zentraedi Defector

* * *

True to the words of Mayor Tommy Luan, within a week Macross City was almost back to normal. The buildings had been mostly pre-fabricated, the roads patched up, even the skyway that had collapsed had almost been rebuilt.

The Zentraedi defectors had watched it all in absolute amazement, never had they been able to imagine such a thing. The ships of their fleet were self-repairing to some degree, but not one was in complete working order and certainly no Zentraedi aboard was able to do anything to fix even the simplest leak from conduit pipes.

Mardul, Furel and Tezel had stuck together since arriving on the ship, this new form of togetherness, which Rico, Konda and Bron described as 'friendship'.

Originally, the three had figured they would simply assimilate with the micronians, rather than draw attention to themselves.

It had not taken too long for the micronians to figure out something was not quite right with the three men who had tried to join a construction team.

The fact they had picked up their shovels the wrong way up had been the give away.

Not too long after that, the military had come by with Rico, Konda and Bron to round up the defectors and debrief them on a number of things that the three spies would have wished to have known the first time they came aboard.

Now, the twenty-three Zentraedi were housed near the Defence Force Base, Mardul was not quite sure whether that was for the micronians safety or the Zentraedis.

Every afternoon since their arrival the defectors would crowd into the common room in front of a display screen to watch Minmei's daily performance.

None of them had seen her in person yet, but none could wait. Mardul, Furel and Tezel had taken it upon themselves to memorise what the micronian's called 'sweet nothings' in preparation for the day.

At that particular moment however, Mardul was preparing to strike out on his own to see what assistance he could provide. He had borrowed a number of non-combat instructional videos from the nearby RDF Base and was now certain he could 'hammer' and 'nail' as good as any micronian.

He had invited Furel and Tezel to come, but neither had been keen to. They had been introduced to an activity called 'cards' and were at that moment thoroughly engaged in the pursuit.

Mardul met Karita in the hall and asked him if he wanted to venture into Macross City.

"Uh…um..." Karita tugged on the collar of his shirt in a nervous manner, then looked resolute. "All right, then."

The two Zentraedi headed into Macross City, which was as usual buzzing with activity.

Both Mardul and Karita shared the benefit of having skin tones that allowed them to pass for micronians and therefore were inconspicuous. There had been a few incidents all ready, with the more 'alien' looking Zentraedi defectors getting roughed up on the streets. Furel and Tezel in particular had had this problem, their skin tones been greenish and reddish, respectively.

Mardul and Karita were nearly knocked off their feet as two of those smaller micronians screamed down the pavement on top of wheeled boards. Rico, Konda and Bron had described the transport devices as 'skateboards' and the smaller micronians as 'kids', Mardul hadn't yet figured out the point of either.

Just up ahead, a colourful strip of plastic had been stretched across two signposts, closing off the stretch of street beyond, where a group of micronians were putting doors back on buildings.

"Aha," Mardul murmured to Karita, "there's our chance to help our new shipmates."

Without waiting for Karita he rushed over towards the group.

"Hello there!" Mardul called, waving an arm. "Need some help?"

One of the micronians looked over, then scrutinised Mardul and Karita as if looking for tell-tale signs…

Finally he nodded. "Yeah, sure, come on over."

Mardul ducked under the yellow strip of plastic and came to stand in front of the male.

"What's ya name?"

"Mardul." At the moment he spoke a drill whirled.

"Martin, huh? Pleased to meet you, I'm Tom," he held out his hand, which Mardul shook enthusiastically, pleased that he remembered that all important micronian custom. Tom then turned to Karita. "And you?"

"Uh, um…" Karita looked abashed. "Kari-" there was a loud shout from one of the micronians nearby and a crash.

"Kerry, good to meet you too," Tom gave a firm nod, holding his hand out.

Karita looked completely perplexed, until Mardul surreptitiously hissed. "Shake it."

Introductions made Tom lead them over to where three micronians were putting up a door.

"This is a lot easier than the sliding doors most of the buildings have around here," he remarked. "All it takes is some muscle and good ol' fashion know-how. You guys done much building?"

"Uh…not really," Mardul decided it was best to admit it right out.

"Well, like I said, anyone can do it," Tom shrugged good-naturedly. "All you gotta do is hold up the door and move it when I tell ya." He gave a wink. "And if you're real good you'll move up to hinge duty."

Mardul had no idea what that involved, but really didn't care. He was about to learn how to rebuild something!

Having his name mispronounced was a small price to pay for that.

* * *

"Lisa, I must ask you again, are you **sure** you want to do this?" Captain Gloval stood facing the observation window of his office, hands clasped behind his back. "You realise, of course, that your father will certainly make it difficult, if not **impossible** for you to return?"

Lisa looked at the Captain's back for a moment, then spoke. "Yes, I do, sir, I want you to know I won't give up getting back to my post. But this report **must** be seen by the Council," she picked it up from where it was lying on the Captain's desk. "Once they see how similar we are to the aliens, they'll open their eyes, I **know **they will."

Captain Gloval kept his back to her for a few seconds more, then turned to her, his pipe clenched between his teeth. He took a puff, then removed it.

"I know, Lisa," he nodded to her. "I wish, though, that there was some other way."

"You won't be left all alone, sir," she smiled, "Sammie will take my place.

Captain Gloval gave a short laugh and shook his head. "Sammie is as loyal and dedicated as they come, but you two could hardly be compared."

Lisa's cheeks flushed, the Captain was hardly the sort to lavish compliments on anybody. "Sammie won't let you down, sir, and you'll have Claudia, Vanessa and Kim, of course."

The Captain took another puff of his pipe.

"You're as right as ever, Lisa," he said once he had exhaled, "but I will miss you greatly, we all will."

Lisa felt tears sting her eyes, she blinked them away rapidly. "I'll miss you all, too."

Silence fell and Lisa watched as Earth blue, green and tranquil appeared in the observation window. Part of her looked forward to getting back there, but it was only a small part.

The Captain folded his arms. "Your shuttle will depart in two hours," he said finally, his own looking bright as he added. "And on the behalf of myself and everyone aboard, I wish you all the luck in the universe."

Lisa saluted sharply. "Yes, sir! I won't let you down," she promised.

Gloval smiled and taking his pipe from his teeth again, extinguished it and set it on his desk. "I know you never could," he replied, saluting her back.

* * *

"You know, I never knew we had this much stuff, aren't we supposed to have some sort limit on possessions in the military?" Claudia muttered, trying to find somewhere to put a box.

Roy, who had become distracted by one of her books, merely grunted in response.

"Put that down and help, would you?" Claudia ordered, then her brow furrows. "What is it anyway?"

"Oh nothing," Roy snapped the book closed and turned to her with his most innocent look.

Claudia narrowed her eyes, but let the matter go. "Well, come on, get over here."

"I don't know why you're picking on me," Roy said as he came over to look into the box. "This is all **your** stuff after all."

"And there'd be room for it if weren't for all **your** crap," Claudia snapped back.

"Crap? This isn't crap, all this is necessary for my mental health," Roy gave her an infuriatingly droll grin.

Claudia reached out and picked up the nearest thing she could lay her hands on. "_Macross Weekly_ is essential to your mental health, is it?"

Roy tried to take the magazine from her. "I have **no** idea how that got here."

"Suuure," Claudia teased, and holding the magazine out of his reach flipped it open. "Hmmm, _What does your wardrobe say about you?_ Oh, well of **course** you had to do this, how could you survive?!"

"For your information, that was uncannily accurate," Roy shot back, managing to get the magazine from her. He tossed it aside and drew her into a tight hug. "Now, don't you think there's better things we could be doing?"

"Hmmm? Maybe…"

Roy began to lean towards her. "Like deciding whose plates we should keep, I think mine, they're certainly a lot nicer than yours."

Roy groaned. "Oh, who cares?"

Claudia detangled herself from his arms. "**I **care and you will too, where are we going to sleep if we don't clean up this place?" She gestured towards the bed, which was currently covered with uniform jackets and skivvies.

"OK, OK, I can take a hint." Roy sighed and went to clear off the bed.

"Why on Earth do you have all those civilian clothes anyway, it's not like you ever get to wear them."

"You know, one day this war will be over, and when it is I want to be totally stylin'."

Claudia rolled her eyes and returned to emptying the box, which was filled mostly with photos.

Then there was a knock at the door.

"You get it!" Roy called from halfway inside the wardrobe.

"How chivalrous," Claudia muttered, walking over and pressing the release hatch.

"Lisa! How are you?"

She gave a small and shaky smile. "All right," she looked about the room. "God, this place is a dive."

"Hey!" Roy poked his head out from the wardrobe. "We prefer the term 'lived in', thank you."

Lisa shook her head, but she quickly looked nervous again.

"Is anything wrong, honey?" Claudia asked, laying a hand on her friend's arm.

"Can I talk to you for a moment," Lisa said in a low voice.

"Of course," Claudia nodded and the two stepped out into the hallway. "What's on your mind?"

Lisa heaved a deep sigh. "I'm leaving for Earth-"

"**What**?" Claudia's eyes widened in disbelief, this was the first she'd heard of this!

"In an hour," Lisa added.

"But…why?"

"To deliver a report about the aliens to the UEG, it's the only way to get through to them, I know it is."

Claudia nodded, slowly. "I'll miss you, though."

"I know, I will too."

"Why did we have to come out here for this? It's not as if Roy would bring out the noisemakers and party hats if he heard you were leaving."

Lisa gave a small laugh. "I know, I know…it's just…well…"

Claudia gave her friend a shrewd look. "You haven't told Rick yet, have you?"

Lisa's shoulders slumped slightly. "I just couldn't think of what to say…I mean, what if he just didn't care? It would be so…embarrassing."

Claudia shook her head. "Lisa, embarrassment isn't the worst thing in the world and sometimes you have to risk it if you're going to get anywhere in your relationships."

Lisa hid behind her hair. "I'm just not ready, Claudia."

_When will you ever be?_ Claudia almost asked, but held her tongue.

"Look, you know what my opinion of all this is, but at the very least I think you should at least call him to say goodbye. Maybe he's not in love with you –" Lisa winced – "but he **is** your friend, and friends don't just leave friends without so much as a word."

Lisa swallowed hard, then nodded. "You're right. I will."

"That's my girl!" Claudia cheered and gave her a warm hug. "Now are you going to say goodbye to my dear husband in there? Or isn't he friend enough?"

"He is, he is," Lisa said with a laugh and the two re-entered Roy's quarters, to find him sitting on the edge of his bed going through the _Macross Weekly_.

"Aha!"

Roy tossed the magazine aside. "What? I'm just taking a breather."

Claudia threw up her hands. "You're completely ridiculous, you know that?"

"Hello, Lisa," Roy said pleasantly, choosing to ignore Claudia's remark.

"Fokker, I never would have pegged you as a trash fan."

"You've read it during off times in the Bridge," Roy wagged a finger at her, "don't pretend you haven't."

Lisa flushed a little, which made Claudia burst into laughter.

"Ahem, the reason I'm **here** though, Fokker, is…well…to say goodbye."

Roy got to his feet. "Huh? What do you mean goodbye? You're ditching us, Hayes?"

"I'm afraid so," Lisa straightened her shoulders. "I'm going to Earth to reason with UEG, now that we have this new information about the aliens."

"So, you've been proclaimed a miracle worker, hmmm?" Roy half joked.

"They're not that bad," Lisa objected, though not too strenuously. "The point is…I have to try this, but I mightn't be back."

Roy looked thoughtful. "I guess not…Well, let me tell you, you may be a complete stickler, but I'm gonna miss you a bunch. Now I'll have to listen to **all** of Claudia's problems."

Claudia placed her hands on her hips and made a show of looking affronted.

"Yeah, well, you might be a total jerk most of the time, but I'll miss you too," Lisa smiled, "and you be nice to Claudia, she's the only one who'll put up with you for any extended period of time."

"Oh, I know it," Roy promised, then suddenly planted a quick kiss on her cheek.

"Hey!"

"For luck," he told her, a look of complete seriousness on his face. "A kiss from me has been known to work the unexplained."

Lisa, her cheeks red, looked towards Claudia, who only rolled her eyes. "Unexplained illness, that is," she drawled.

"We're such giddy newly weds," Roy sighed, then gave Lisa a salute. "All the best to you, ma'am, I know if anyone can convince those guys down there to look past their noses, it's you."

Lisa grinned and saluted back.

Claudia rendered a salute of her own as well. "Good luck, Lisa," she added.

"Thank you, both of you," she said and then with one last wave, left.

"There goes a dedicated officer," Claudia remarked.

"And now, we get to take our orders from little Sammie," Roy added, then made a show of looking terrified. "May Lord have mercy on our souls!"

"Oh shut up, you!"

* * *

Rick was wandering through Macross rather aimlessly, being off duty and having nothing to do.

_As usual_, he thought to himself. _This isn't how I pictured my life._

And it certainly wasn't. He had planned to return to the US after the Launching Celebrations for the SDF-1 were over all those months ago. _Pop Hunter's Flying Circus_ had still existed (it had certainly been foreclosed by now) and Rick had planned to keep it going.

Of course, all that had gone to the wind when the Zentraedi attacked and the SDF-1 and Macross Island had ended up past Pluto.

"Phone call for Rick Hunter," a computerised voice suddenly sounded. "Lieutenant Rick Hunter, phone call for you."

A spark of hope lighted in his heart, he knew it was stupid, but maybe…just maybe…

Hurrying over to the nearest bank of phones and picked up the first one, press the star key as he did. "This is Lieutenant Rick Hunter."

"Thank you," the computerised voice said, "connecting you now."

"Hello?" Rick gripped the phone cord tightly.

"Rick?"

"Lisa? Is that you?" Rick's eyebrows shot up in surprise, this was the last person he expected. _Although, I was going to ask her out for diner, wasn't I?_ He reminded himself, remembering how they had talked while cleaning up the _White Dragon_.

"Yes, it's me."

"What's going on with you? Where are you anyway? Do you get off duty soon, because I-"

"I'm…I'm not getting off duty any time soon," Lisa interrupted him, "at least, not soon enough."

"What are you talking to about?"

"I'm calling from a shuttle, I'm…returning to Earth."

"You're **what**?!" Rick yelled, shocking the woman who was on the phone next to him, he gave her an apologetic smile, then turned away and spoke almost in a whisper. "But why?"

"I have to deliver a report, on the aliens, to the UEG; it's the only chance we've got to get their support."

"When do you get back?" Rick stomach sank, he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

"I…I don't know…My father is part of the Council and…I don't think he'll want me to come back to the SDF-1." Lisa confirmed his feelings. "I'm going to try and get back, but I can't promise….So, I thought, I should say goodbye. I've enjoyed our talks these past few weeks."

Rick had as well, in fact, he only realised at that very moment, just how much. "Lisa, when are you leaving? Can I come see you; I don't want to say good bye on the phone!"

"I'm sorry, Rick…the shuttle is leaving in two minutes."

"But-!"

Suddenly there was talking on Lisa's end of the line and suddenly she spoke quickly. "The captain of the shuttle has just confirmed we're ready for take off. I have to go…Goodbye, Rick, take care of yourself…"

"Lisa…"

"I hope we'll meet again some day," she continued, almost breathless now. "Goodbye."

"Go-goodbye," Rick finally managed and no sooner had he got the word out then there was a click and the dial tone sounded.

_Lisa!_ He thought, shaking his head, he couldn't believe it! She was leaving!

Slamming the phone down, he raced to few feet to the huge observation window which looked over the bow of the ship.

And he saw the shuttle, slowly leaving one of the bays. The shuttle carrying Lisa.

Rick pressed his hands against the thick glass of the window, as if somehow he could reach through and pull the shuttle back.

_Damnit! Why didn't I say more to her…I can't believe that the last word I may ever speak to her is a stuttering goodbye._


	21. Chapter 21

"_There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio than is dreamt of in your philosophy."_ _Hamlet Act 1 Scene 5_, Shakespeare

* * *

Miriya was rejoicing her search was finally over.

_I now know the name of my quarry!_ She thought, exulting, _He will meet his just fate soon._

Her mission into the heart of the micronians defence force base had been a success; she had gone through the files and discovered the pilot of that distinctive Skull and Crossbones mecha.

The knives she had stolen were fit snugly into her boots ready at a moments notice to be pulled from their sheaths and used against her enemy.

And Miriya had discovered something else as well.

She walked through the streets of Macross City, determined and purposeful. For the briefest second she thought she saw male Zentraedi in the streets, but shook aside her suspicions. The very notion was ridiculous; she certainly could not wait to be off this hideous ship, her new discoveries aside.

She came to a stop at her location, a brightly lit and noisy building, like most of the others, but this one, unlike the others had a clear and understandable purpose.

_No wonder these micronians are such skilled warriors! No wonder they have those lifestages 'child' 'teen' and 'adult'. _She thought casting her eyes about the machines that filled the space, behind the various types of controls, young micronians were intent on screens depicting simulations of battle, involving both mecha and the more ancient hand-to-hand styles. _They train on these machines as they 'grow' and by the time they are fit to be soldiers, they are supreme combatants. Clever…_

Miriya had been somewhat uncomfortable at first by the looks upon the faces of the 'children' who were training. Miriya, of course enjoyed battle and conquest more than anything, but she had never had what the micronians called 'joy' from it. It seemed as if the 'children' did not take their training seriously…but perhaps she was misreading their faces, after all, they willing **paid** the machines for training scenarios.

"Back again, huh?" A male called from behind the counter, giving her a 'wink' as the micronian's termed it.

Miriya gave him the coldest look she could, as she lay down the bills she had managed to get off some of the susceptible males aboard Zor's Fortress.

The male seemed not to notice her rudeness, or if he did, didn't really care. He flashed her a broad smile. "So ready to play a game? I thought you were just here to watch us big boys strut our stuff."

Miriya was briefly put off, realising that she had no idea what the male had just said. But quickly she brushed it off, tossing back her hair she replied. "I am eager to begin my training."

The male tilted his head at her, his brow furrowed. Then he shrugged and handed her a dozen coins that had come from a machine that he had fed her notes into. "Well, have fun."

Miriya snatched her hand away and turning looked about for a free machine.

She spotted on near the wide window at the front of the building and as she got closer she read the name of the simulator. _Veritechs_!

_What luck!_ Her eyes brightened. _It's a simulation for the very mecha the micronians use against us! Now I will learn all of its functions and when I return to my Quadronos I will be more successful than ever._

Settling into one of the two seats on either side of the simulator, she inserted a token into the slot and looked down at the screen waiting for her instructions.

They flashed up and she took hold of the stick in front of her, and place her feet on the pedals.

Before she knew it, an image of the 'Veritech' appeared and it began to move across the screen, and then battle pods appeared and began to fire upon her.

Moving the stick swiftly, Miriya avoided the laser fire and pressing the button on top of the stick sent laser fire from her simulated Veritech obliterating those pods, and then the ones that followed almost before they appeared on the screen.

As she did, she noticed a group of micronian numbers at the top of the screen, it was increasing each time she destroyed a pod. All ready it was three numbers high.

A smile spread across her lips, she would master this simulator, she would get those numbers higher than any micronian had before. After all, she was ace of the Zentraedi Fleet.

* * *

Lisa drummed her fingers nervously on the arm rest of her chair, the report safely tucked on the floor between her feet.

She took a quick look out the window, but the SDF-1 was no longer visible, which sent a shiver down her spine. She had a bad feeling in her stomach, as if something bad was going to happen, but she couldn't think what.

"Uh…how long will it be 'til we get to Earth?" She called to the shuttle pilots in front, who had left the cockpit door open.

"About half an hour, ma'am," the co-pilot called back. "You want a drink or something?"

Lisa's lips were dry, but she shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

She took a look out the other window and saw the two Veritechs of Max Sterling and Joseph Hart, which with another two were accompanying the shuttle to Earth's outer orbit. She wished one of them were Rick, all ready she regretted her quick goodbye. Why had she waited until the last minute? Why had she assumed Rick wouldn't care? He probably didn't and it was probably due to the way **she **was acting.

"Claudia, you must think I'm a complete dope," she muttered to herself, shaking her head.

Subconsciously, she tightened her seatbelt, unable to dismiss the feeling that something very wrong was going to happen.

_Why did I have to decide this was the best way_, she wondered, shaking her head. _I wish I'd never left the ship._

But it was too late to change her mind now, setting her shoulders resolutely, Lisa lifted her chin and went through in her mind what she was going to say when she came face to face with her father again.

* * *

Since the incident with the defectors and Breetai's unconceivable command to imprison rather than execute them, Khyron had been in a state of ill-controlled fury.

He paced the bridge of his ship, his right fingers curled into a tight fist, and he continually smacked it into the palm of his left hand.

Grel watched him pace with nervous eyes.

Khyron suddenly stopped and whirled to face his aide. "We have become complete imbeciles in the face of the micronians, have we not?"

"Uh…"

"While they cruise about in that single, small ship, **we**, the Zentraedi, the gods of war, with our million, hide behind that...orbiting rock like frightened creatures. Where is our pride?"

"Well, uh, m'lord, the orders we were given are clear –"

"I **know** what our orders are!" Khyron hollered, and for a moment Grel was certain his Commander was going to hit him.

At that moment a tech called from below. "Lord Khyron, sensors indicate a small craft has left Zor's Fortress, heading for the micronian planet."

"What?"

"I'll patch it up for you, m'lord," the tech continued and the screen appeared in front of Khyron and Grel, showing the micronian craft and its five mecha escort.

"Take a look, Grel, they think so little of us this is all the think they need to defend themselves against us," Khyron snarled, then his eyes gleamed with malice. "Well, we'll show them; after all, we have no orders **not** to attack the micronians foolish enough to leave the Fortress."

Striding to the communications console he opened the comm. and announced. "All soldiers with functioning battle pods are to report to the launching bay, a micronian craft has been spotted. We are to attack it; you have twenty mil to prepare."

With that he headed for the door. "You have command of the ship while I'm gone, Grel, and when I return triumphant; perhaps we can have a small celebration."

Grel gave him a salute and watched as with a war cry, Khyron ran towards the launching bay.

* * *

"Well, I guess there's benefits to marriage after all," Roy declared, finally collapsing on the couch.

Claudia, who had flopped down beside him, looked over with a smile. "Hmmmm?"

"This is the longest I've got off-duty in **years**."

"Oh, is that all I am to you? Free time?"

"Of course not," Roy put an arm about her shoulders and drew her close. "There's also how you got rid of that pesky problem I had with too much space. We won't be able to take two steps without colliding into something…reminds me of home."

Claudia punched his arm. "You like to mock, don't you?"

"Just tellin' it like it is, babe."

"Well, with all this free time, what should we do? A five thousand piece puzzle? Watch all our videos?"

Roy shook his head in mock dismay. "Clearly, you have no imagination, my dear, there's only one thing to do when one is given nearly a week off duty."

Claudia raised her eyebrows. "Hmmm?"

"I can't say it out loud," Roy leaned close, "it's too top secret."

"We're going to buy every copy of _Macross Weekly_ ever printed and do all the quizzes?"

Roy gave a horrified gasp. "You've spoken it!"

Claudia gave him a sultry smile and then all, but pounced on him. "I can think of **much** better things to do than quizzes."

"I think that would be a pretty hard to top," Roy replied, cocking an eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah, what about this," Claudia murmured giving him a long, slow kiss.

"Hmmm," Roy breathed when they parted.

"So you still want do quizzes?"

"Hey, I'm not stupid."

* * *

The prospect of flying protection for Commander Hayes shuttle had not been Max's idea of a fun assignment, but then what did he expect, being part of the war?

Having said that, the fact that nothing had happened, was a blessing, Max was getting tired of the fighting, of the whole war, especially now that he knew just how close being human the aliens really were.

The Earth was swiftly coming into view, atmospheric contact would be made in about five minutes, then he, Joseph, Corporal Eastman and Airmen Andrews would turn around and head back to the SDF-1. Then he'd be off duty…it would probably be a good time to go to the arcade and-

Suddenly his screens lit up with red lights.

"Vermillion Three to Vermillion Two, we got bogies heading in from Delta sector," Joseph's face appeared on his left screen.

"I'm picking them up, Vermillion Three," he reported, then opened the tac-net. "Vermillion Two to Shuttle, take evasive action immediately!"

"Roger," the co-pilot replied, and with that the shuttle veered sharply, Max and Joseph turned sharply to head towards the incoming battle pods, a small group by the alien standards, but it was a lot more than two Veritechs could handle that was for sure.

"Vermillion Three to SDF-1, we've got a situation here, are you sending backup?"

"Uh…" Lieutenant Porter's high, shaky voice came over the tac-net, "we are…your position is…uh…"

"Lambda Thirty-four," Max informed her.

"Right, we'll send in reinforcements right away."

"Roger," Max tried his best to muster up a supportive smile for the poor girl, who looked completely frazzled.

Then he turned his attention to the battle that was about to begin. The alien pods came from all sides, converting to Battloid; Max brought up his Gatling and started firing, dodging laser fire easily.

The shuttle was nowhere near as manoeuvrable and several laser shots hit the starboard wing. Fortunately, no fuel was held there, and the shuttle held together.

Max tried not to think too hard about the pilot in Vermillion Five, who suddenly vanished in a bright ball of fire.

"Vermillion Three and Four, draw the enemy away from the shuttle," Max ordered over the net. "Lieutenant Johnson," he called to the co-pilot of the shuttle, "try and make a run for Earth while we're distractin' them."

"I don't think we can, Lieutenant," Johnson replied in a tight voice. "The starboard hydraulics are draining off fast, we can't get equal power to both the rear engines. There's no way for us to speed up."

"Damn."

"Vermillion Two," Lieutenant Porter's face appeared on screen, "Vermillion One is on its way with the new FAST pack system. It should make contact in twenty minutes."

"Roger, Bridge," Max nodded, "OK, twenty minutes…we can do that."

At least that was all he could hope.

* * *

His teeth on edge Rick speed towards Delta Five or Lambda Thirty-four or whatever it was called now. The extreme acceleration of the FAST packs atop his Veritech pressed him into the back of his seat.

Usually this sort of thing was Roy's domain as Skull Leader, but for whatever reason, Rick had been called up to lead the reinforcements.

The minutes ticked by, and slowly the explosions of battle came into view. And right in the middle of it was the shuttle, with Lisa inside.

"All right, let's see what this thing can do," Rick muttered to himself and getting a lock on the targets on his radar screen he hit the red button a top his control stick.

A volley of missiles erupted from the Fast Pack, looping and arcing through the blackness of space, right into the furious battle ahead, destroying pods in flashes of light and fire.

There must have been twenty missiles in the volley and nearly every one of them hit home.

"Vermillion One to Vermillion Two," Rick called over the net once he got his bearings.

"Vermillion Two," Max's face appeared on his left screen. "Am I glad to see you, keep those missiles coming, they're the only hope we've got!"

Rick was joined by two other members of the Skull and soon the tables were turned and the alien pods were on the defensive, been pushed further and further away from the shuttle.

Out the corner of his eye, Rick noticed a distinctive pod, unlike the usual white egg shaped ones, this one had a red canopy and two enormous laser cannon 'arms'. He was pretty sure he'd met this guy before…

"Oh no, you don't," he grunted, jettisoning the depleted FAST packs, and switching to Guardian to slow down.

The enemy pod flew passed, but suddenly turned, bringing his cannons to bear upon Rick.

Swiftly Rick dodged the blue lines of fire and returned a few of his own, but his challenger avoided those.

"Definitely the same guy," Rick muttered to himself, remembering how he had lost a Battloid arm way back when he was starting out as a Veritech pilot.

He had got a lot better during that time, but so had the pilot of the pod. There were close calls, but neither could score a direct hit on the other.

The enemy pods, at least what remained of them continued their retreat, until they were in the firing range of the huge alien armada.

And as much as Rick wanted to….he gave the order to retreat to the shuttle.

"This is Vermillion One to Bridge, we've repelled the enemy," he reported.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Sammie heaved a great sigh. "Uh…" She looked over her shoulder and Rick heard Gloval's voice, but couldn't make out what he said. "Stay with the shuttle, Lieutenant Hunter."

Rick suppressed an urge to roll his eyes, as if he was going to do that! "Roger," he said instead.

"This is Vermillion One to Shuttle; it looks like we'll be joining your escort party."

Lieutenant Johnson, the co-pilot of the shuttle appeared on Rick's left hand screen. "Hey, feel free to join in, everyone's been invited it seems!" He gave a half hysterical laugh of relief.

"Is uh…the passenger all right?" Rick couldn't resist asking.

"Commander Hayes is totally fine, there's an automatic armouring/escape pod tech on board, she was probably the safest of all of us!"

Rick smiled; finally he was able to relax.

"She's got something to say though," Lieutenant Johnson continued, "I'll patch you through."

"Lieutenant Hunter, thank you."

"Hey, it was nothing, Commander," Rick felt somewhat embarrassed, imagine Lisa thanking him over the tac-net where everyone could hear! He never would have seen it happening in a million years a few months ago.

"That's a compliment you won't get every day," Lisa spoke as if she read his mind, "I'd take it if I were you."

"Roger, roger! Thank you, ma'am," Rick gave a salute even though he wasn't sure if she could see him. Lisa laughed though, and out the corner of his eye he could see her through the one of the windows of the shuttle.

"If I can speak freely, ma'am," he began, but neglected to wait for answer before continuing. "What's all this about you not coming back to the SDF-1?"

"My father is on the Council," Lisa explained, "I don't believe he'll be willing to let me come back."

"You've been assigned to the SDF-1, though; he can't just change it on you!" Rick complained.

"Well…he's the Admiral of the Fleet…but I'll make sure to pass on your objections to him."

"You're just yanking my chain, aren't you?"

"Your tac-net manner is slipping, Lieutenant," Lisa warned, good naturedly.

"Sorry, you're just yanking my chain, **ma'am**," Rick added, wryly.

Lisa laughed, but her voice became sombre again. "I have to go, Lieutenant Hunter, we're about to enter the Earth's outer atmosphere."

Rick's heart sank he wanted to say something to her, but knew she'd be embarrassed if he did it out loud. But inspiration flashed. "Roger, Commander… uh…look out the window."

"Huh?"

"Just do it, please."

When he saw her looking out at him, he started a series of flashes; he remembered way back in basic training how he and most of the others had sneered at the thought of using Morse code. It was the twenty-first century, why would they ever need it? But this was a perfect time for it; after all, he didn't want the whole world to know what he was saying. At least what he **hoped** he was saying.

"I complain a lot," he muttered to himself, "but I like you. Would miss you if you didn't come back. Good luck on your mission, but please come home soon."

His message seemed to get through though, because Lisa smiled and gave him a salute.

He saluted back, and then slowed his Veritech down, veering away from the Earth as the shuttle continued on.

"OK, Vermillion Team, let's head back," he ordered over the net.

A chorus of "Rogers" answered and the Veritech headed back towards the SDF-1. But Rick couldn't help but keep an eye on his radar screen, watching the dot that was Lisa's shuttle head for landing in Alaska.


	22. Chapter 22

"_If we don't end war, war will end us." _Quote from John Cabal inHG Wells's movie _Things To Come_, 1936

* * *

Donald Hayes had not been this nervous for many, many years…in fact not since he was a very young man, waiting in a restaurant for the most beautiful woman he had ever seen to arrive. He had been sure that she wouldn't…

His musings were interrupted by his aide, who bundled up in a uniform overcoat, cleared his throat to get Hayes's attention.

"Admiral, the SDF-1 has reported that the attack on the shuttle has been successfully fought off. But the shuttle is running twenty minutes behind schedule. Do you want to go back to base? It's awful cold out here."

"No, you can go back, but I'll wait out here, it's a nice day," he replied, absently, looking up at the clear sky for sign of the shuttle.

His aide looked at him as if he were mad, but returned to the military jeep parked not far away and headed back for the warmth of the small out post that was the only above ground structure of Alaska Base, such was the secrecy that needed to be maintained by the United Earth Government.

Burrowing his hands deeper into his pockets, Donald turned back to his reminiscing. Lisa's mother, his wife Andrea **had** arrived at the restaurant, bestowing a brilliant smile upon him and she sat down asking if she was late. He had assured her that she wasn't, he was just early, very early, as he always was.

They had got along so well, despite having only met before then in the confines of Political Studies classes at Harvard.

It had been a whirlwind courtship, soon they were married, and not too long after that they had had Lisa.

Everything had been so happy for five years, until the diagnosis had come…

At first Andrea had been upbeat, positive as ever that she would beat the cancer and life would go on. But as the months passed and the chemotherapy failed to stop its spread, she became weaker and weaker…She had still kept her sense of humour and had fought to survive, for him, for Lisa.

But the struggle was one that couldn't be won, and not too long after Lisa's seventh birthday, Andrea Hayes had died peacefully in her sleep at home.

Donald had been devastated…extremely devastated, Andrea had been so warm and vibrant, a far cry from his own parents, who were strict and whilst they cared, had not been demonstrive in it.

But Donald regretted his reaction to Andrea's death now, throwing himself into his work, rising quickly through the ranks.

But he had left Lisa behind.

Oh, they had still lived in the same house, and Donald had managed to turn up to the end-of-year award ceremonies and her school, where she picked up at least one award for academic achievement. But he had not really spent much time with her; he had not asked her how she felt, or what she wanted to do with her life. In regards to the latter, he simply assumed that she, like every member of the family before (excepting spouses), would go into the military.

She had, of course, and she was the finest officer anyone could imagine, something he was truly proud of.

But he still felt their relationship was lacking. And it certainly hadn't been helped by the cool treatment he'd given her when the SDF-1 had returned to Earth. He had spent many nights berating himself for his behaviour, trying to come up with excuses for it, and mostly blaming Gloval. Once the two men had been friends, but as the SDF-1 reconstruction project had gone on the relationship had deteriorated more and more. Donald couldn't quite say why, since it was not as though he was jealous of Gloval's position as Captain of the alien ship.

He heaved and impatient sigh and quickly pull his left hand out of his pocket to check the time.

Just ten minutes to go…

* * *

Rick's mind was in a whirl, he still couldn't believe that Lisa was gone, he kept thinking of things he wanted to say her.

He and Max had gone straight to the mess on their return, but Rick didn't have the faintest idea what he actually selected.

"That new FAST pack Veritech sure was something, Boss," Max was saying, "what kind of speed did you get out of it?"

"Huh?" Blinking Rick focused his attention on his friend.

Max adjusted his glasses. "Never mind," he shook his head. "What's the matter, you seem really distracted…is it Minmei?"

Rick actually hadn't spared a single thought for Minmei since that morning, he didn't know how to respond, since he didn't want to share his mixed-up feelings about Lisa with anyone. Especially not Max, who had an unnervingly simplistic way of looking at relationships, probably because he had never really been in one.

"Err…so…how's the hunt for that green haired girl going?" Rick blurted out, more to distract Max rather than because he wanted to know.

Max heaved a sigh and rested his chin in his hands. "I haven't seen her for a whole week. It's unbelievable, you know, nobody seems to know who she is and where she lives! I come from a small town, but fifty thousand people isn't really that many, surely everyone knows everyone in Macross!"

Rick shrugged. "I guess not, or maybe she changed her image dramatically or something and decided to go into hiding. I mean, green hair?"

Max gave him a look. "What does that have to do with anything? I **like** her hair, it's beautiful, she's beautiful."

"Well, uh, I guess," Rick suppressed an urge to scratch his head in utter confusion. He hadn't seen the girl for himself, and couldn't imagine how she could possibly be attractive. But to each his own he supposed.

"You know, maybe you should take out an ad," Rick suggested, feeling slightly bad about inadvertedly insulting the guy.

"An ad?" Max looked completely baffled.

"Yeah, like the 'Personals', _Tall blond flying ace seeks curvy girls for fun and drinks _-"

"Lies, all lies!" A voice declared from behind Rick.

Max saluted. "Commander."

Rick turned to see Roy ambling over; he took a seat next to Max. "So what's all this? You think someone like **me** would need to stoop to 'Personal Ads'?" Roy folded his arms.

"It was just an example for Max here," Rick defended himself, "and plenty of people use 'Personal Ads'."

"Why would you need one, Max?" Roy turned to him. "As a certified RDF ace you'll have no trouble picking up."

"I think I'm a certified **something**," Max heaved a sigh. "There's this girl in town, I've never spoken to her and it seems no-one else has either. But I'd give anything to meet her!"

Roy looked intrigued. "Really? A mystery woman onboard? Hmmm…" he stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Aren't you married now?" Rick asked.

"That's not something I'm likely to forget, Rick," Roy rolled his eyes. "I'm just saying, the whole thing sounds interesting. I mean, God knows we could use something else to talk about aside from Lynn Kyle's head injury."

Rick had been prepared to object, but he certainly couldn't to **that**. For the past week when the MBS wasn't talking about the rebuilding of the city, or the alien defectors, it was talking about Lynn Kyle, who was still in hospital.

"What does this girl look like?"

"She's tall," Max began, "with green eyes and a real sense of style –"

"She's got green hair," Rick felt the need to point out the most pertinent fact.

Roy raised his eyebrows. "Green hair, huh? Sounds like she'd be pretty hard to lose in a crowd."

"You'd think so," Max shrugged. "But like I was just telling Rick, I haven't seen her in days."

"Hmmm…" Roy looked to be deep in thought.

"Roy will get to the bottom of this," Rick promised, "if there's anyone who knows women, it's him."

Roy glared at him, then turned back to Max. "Any ideas what sort of thing this lady might be in to?"

Max shrugged. "Like I said, I've never even **spoken** to her…I think she went and saw _Small White Dragon_."

"Well…her and most of the city," Roy shook his head, "that's nothing to go on."

"See, a 'Personal Ad' is looking better and better now, isn't it," Rick gloated, folding his own arms.

"Hmmm…well, I guess we could," Roy turned to Max, "what do you say."

Max winced. "I don't want the whole ship reading an ad selling myself."

"You wouldn't need to make it **sleazy**, it's not like you're looking for a hooker or something."

"You never know," Rick said before he could stop himself.

Max and Roy both stared at him.

"Uh…"

"It's nice of you two to help," Max said, sincerely, "but I'd rather just keep looking out for her on my own. But hey!" His eyes brightened. "We're all off duty, right? Why don't we go to the Arcade?"

Rick looked extremely dubious.

"Got a hankering for _Street Fighter II_?" Roy asked.

"Hey, it's a lot of fun, I can't believe you two never played arcade games!"

"Of course we didn't, we were too busy **actually** flying too," Roy laughed.

"You should try it, Commander."

"I'd love to, but I got things to do," Roy got to his feet, turning to Rick. "But Little Brother here certainly should, you need a pick-me-up."

Rick looked from Roy's face to Max's and finally shrugged. "Fine, can't be any worse than what I was planning to do…"

"You really need to work on your acceptance of invitations, Little Brother," Roy said, patting Rick on his shoulder, before turning to leave with a wave.

* * *

As the shuttle touched down, Lisa took a deep breath to steady her nerves.

"The Shuttle has landed, Commander, you can now begin disembarking." The co-pilot announced from the front seat.

"Thank you," she nodded, and unbuckled her seatbelt, grabbing her briefcase from the floor she put on a long fur lined coat and a pair of thermal boots in preparation for the cold winds outside.

"OK, Lisa," she whispered to herself, "its time to face them all." Turning she spoke to the pilots. "I'm ready."

The shuttle door opened and Lisa clenched the collar of her coat together as the biting wind rushed in and the disembarking steps were rolled up.

To her shock she saw her father there on the tarmac waiting.

_Why is he here?_ Part of her was touched, but a bigger part felt a swell of anger at the way he had dismissed her report and his old friend, Captain Gloval.

Holding her head high, she climbed down the steps, as she reached the bottom she thought her father murmured her name, but surely not. Not Admiral Hayes, every inch an officer.

She set her briefcase down and rendered her sharpest salute. "Admiral, Commander Lisa Hayes of the SDF-1 reporting to United Earth Council with a special report."

The smile on her father's face faltered, then he gave her a sharp nod and a salute of his own.

"Welcome to Earth, Commander, I look forward to hearing your report," he responded, just as curtly.

Lisa picked up her briefcase and with her father beside her, the two walked towards a military jeep that had just pulled up to pick them up.

As they sat together in the backseat, Lisa wondered what was colder, the winds from the Artic, or the relationship between her and her father.

* * *

In just two hours, Miriya had amassed a huge amount of tokens. She had not realised it at first, but whilst the micronians made their soldiers pay for their training, the particularly good ones were rewarded by having their money returned, and then some.

As she sent another simulated alien pod into oblivion a child who had come over to observe in her action let out a breath. "**Wow**!"

His admiration at her prowess was the first understandable response she had had from the micronians since her arrival upon their ship.

Miriya had the briefest thought that perhaps the micronians and Zentraedi were not so different after all, but then immediately banished the traitorous thought. It was completely ridiculous.

Shaking her head she returned to the simulation, she had more important things to think about, like continuing to increase her 'score' represented by the numbers that continued to swiftly rise. And the child continued making noises of approval as she continued her decimation of the pods.

Soon other micronians were coming over to watch her, distracted from their own simulation training, to see her at work.

Slowly, her pride in her abilities and her confidence had been returned to her, thanks to these simulations…she was almost tempted to thank the male behind the counter! It was thrilling indeed, to have these micronians awestruck by her ability, and extremely satisfying that they had no idea who she was, that soon she would be full-sized again and with her new knowledge of their way of life and their mecha would be more deadly then ever.

"Woo! You go, girl!" A female called from the sidelines as Miriya dispatched a particularly skilful Officer's Pod. She imagined that it was Khyron.

As she reached the end of the 'level' more tokens fell from the slot in the machine. Gathering them up, she noticed that her first tray was completely full. _What do I do now?_

With an imperious gesture she had seen micronians use in their 'restaurants' she held up her arm and snapped her fingers, calling. "Excuse me."

The most oddly dressed micronian she'd ever seen came over to her, he wore green goggles and his bright red hair stuck up from his head in a line. She wondered briefly what crime against the fleet he had committed to be forced to wear a uniform like that.

"Yes?" He spoke in a dour tone.

"Do you have anymore trays?" Miriya gestured to the one of the floor next to her. "This one seems to be full."

The male's skin took on a decidedly pale shade and he opened his mouth, only to close it and nod. He scurried off, head down and returned with another red tray that he all but shoved into her hands before hurrying off to the back of the large room through a door.

_What odd behaviour_, Miriya thought, and from the looks of the micronians watching, they thought so too.

But she had more important things to do, like continuing her training. With a shrug she dropped the tokens into the new tray and set it down beside the first one and returned to the simulation.

* * *

Lisa sat stiffly beside her father as the elevator descended. She had never been claustrophobic, but something about Alaska Base made her feel incredibly uncomfortable. Or perhaps it was her father. Ever since her arrival, he had been staring at her with an expression she couldn't fathom and he hadn't even asked to see the report.

_What are you doing?_ Lisa asked herself, _This is your father, just ask._

That inner voice sounded a lot like Claudia's and it also sounded right. Lisa took a deep breath to steady her nerves and then took the plunge.

"Father, are you all right?"

He gave a brief start, as though waking from a dream. "Hmmm, what?"

"Well, you've been staring at me since I arrived," Lisa explained, "am I wearing my uniform incorrectly?" She attempted to inject some humour into the situation.

Her father made a gruff sound, then smiled. "No, of course not, you look as impeccable as always and more like your mother each time I see you."

Lisa ducked her head, she knew her father was sincere; he always was when he talked of Mama.

"And you're looking…um…"Lisa had been about to say 'well', but looking closely, she wasn't so sure. He looked somewhat pale ad had dark circles under his eyes. "Is the Council going well?" She asked instead.

Her father immediately heaved a deep sigh.

"Sometimes I don't know," he said in a voice almost too low for her to catch.

She was surprised; could it be that her father was reconsidering his stance?

But Lisa did not want to allow herself to hope too much.

Finally, the lift stopped and Lisa had to restrain herself from rushing out as soon as the doors opened. Instead, she followed her father, they turned down a short corridor, arriving at his office.

He took a seat behind his desk and Lisa placed the brief case on top of it, flicking open the latches and raising the lid.

Inside was a vid-recording, medical reports and the report, gathering them up she passed them to her father.

"This is the information we've collected on the aliens so far, almost two dozen defected to the SDF-1 a week ago."

"What?!" Her father's head shot up, his eyes wide. "Defectors?"

Lisa nodded, briskly. "A number of them are so similar looking to humans that they can blend in with us without anyone knowing."

If possible, her father looked even more stunned, getting to his feet, vid-recording in hand he went to the player and loaded it in.

Then he picked up the medical reports and watched as the results from the various tests that had been performed on the Zentraedi flashed on screen.

"Amazing," her father murmured as he took it all in. "Incredible…I never would have imagined…"

From her seat Lisa felt her heart lifting, deep down she had always known her father was a fair and reasonable man. Now, he would come through, not just for her, but for Gloval and for all aboard the SDF-1.

She brushed away a small tear of happiness.

* * *

Sammie had never been so relieved to get off duty in her whole life. That morning had been an exercise in how much anxiety a person could have; she didn't know how Lisa survived.

"Commander Hayes better be back by the end of the week," she huffed to Vanessa and Kim. "I don't think I can take this for much longer."

"You're such a **dedicated** officer, though," Kim giggled in mock protest. "What would we do without you?"

"Oh, be quiet," Sammie pouted.

"You know what we should do," Vanessa piped up, looking to avoid a fight between her two best friends.

"What?" Sammie and Kim turned to her.

"Visit Rico, Konda and Bron, we haven't seen them for a few days after all."

Sammie's and Kim's faces lit up. "You're right!" Kim cried.

"They live right next to the base, let's go!" Sammie agreed, almost breaking into a run, but Vanessa took her arm.

"Hey, slow down, don't you think we should get dressed up in something nice?" She winked. "After all, we've got to keep those boys on their toes."

"But of course!" A wide smile broke over Sammie's face.

"Not that we need any help," Kim remarked, tossing her head back dramatically and putting the back of a hand to her forehead.

"But any excuse to dress up is a good one," Vanessa finished.

Laughing the three linked arms and skipped off in the direction of the quarters.

They emerged a little while afterwards, dressed in the latest fashions, having brought up while shopping for bridesmaid dresses.

Still arm in arm they headed to the small complex that housed the Zentraedi defectors.

Almost before they rang the buzzer, the door was flung open revealing a group of Zentraedi.

"Females!" The one who answered the door yelped.

"Do you three know Minmei?"

"What do those uniforms you're wearing represent?"

"Can you sing for us?"

"Woah!" Vanessa exchanged a look with Sammie and Kim.

Sammie putting a big smile on her face stepped forward. "It's so nice to meet you all, are Rico, Konda and Bron in?"

The Zentraedi seemed momentarily befuddled by her smile, some even going so far as to **blush**!

"Sammie, Vanessa, Kim!" A familiar voice called and at the very back of the group an arm waved, then Bron came into sight and the top of Konda's head.

"Come on," Rico's voice grumbled, "let us through, let us through."

Slowly the group parted and the three ex-spies appeared, wide grins widening even further when they caught sight of the Bridge Bunnies clothes.

"Hey guys!" Kim greeted, grabbing Konda's hand.

"Oooh," the Zentraedi gasped.

Sammie, Vanessa and Kim darted nervous looks at each other.

"Uh, let's go talk somewhere…private," Vanessa declared, taking Bron's arm.

"Oooh," the Zentraedi gaped at them.

"Yeah, let's," Sammie grabbed Rico's arm and Kim throwing a look at the group at the door, the six started away.

"Tell us if you press lips!' One of the Zentraedi called.

"Huh?" The Bridge Bunnies blinked almost stopping in their tracks.

Rico, Konda and Bron threw silencing looks over their shoulders, but it was all ready too late to stay out of trouble.

* * *

Max had once again slaughtered him.

Not that that particularly surprised Rick, apart from the fact he'd never played _Indy 5000_, there was the fact that his mind was going in circles.

_Lisa…Minmei…Lisa…_

He watched as the tokens spilled out of the slot and Max caught them in a red tray, actually licking his lips.

It was no wonder either, ten tokens equalled one Macross Dollar and anything extra a soldier could get was well worth it.

"Man, look at **that**!" Rick shook his head at the avalanche of gold coloured tokens.

"I know, isn't it great?" Max laughed. "I always get more than I can carry away."

"Well, you certainly left me in the dust," Rick replied. _And five bucks short._

Max grinned, the tokens finally stopped coming, and a good thing too, the red tray was full to overflowing.

"I don't know about you, but I can't afford anymore of this," Rick got to his feet, "thanks for bringing me here though, it was fun."

_Well, as much fun as I can have right now._

"Don't worry, though, you just need to get to know the games, with a little bit of practice you'll be scoring as many tokens as me!"

Rick sincerely doubted that, but appreciated Max saying so.

Suddenly, Max stopped short on the steps almost dropping his tray. "That girl, sitting at that game!"

"Huh?" Rick spotted her quickly, with that green hair she was hard to miss. "Oh yeah…green hair, right?"

"Isn't she **incredible**?" Max breathed. "She's the one I've been seeing **everywhere**! Just look at her!"

Rick did, but still couldn't really see it. "Well, I guess she's sorta attractive."

"**Sorta**?!" Max looked at Rick as **he** were the insane one. "If only I could find some reason to talk to her," he muttered as if to himself. Then his blue eyes lit up. "I know! Maybe I can get her in a game with me!"

Rick shook his head, Max really had no idea, but before he could say so, his friend had all but vaulted down the rest of the steps and was at the girl's side.

"Hello, I was…uh…wondering if you'd like to play with me," Max began, his normally soft voice loud with nerves. "From what I see of your winnings I think we'd be pretty evenly matched, whaddya say?"

Rick shook his head, clearly Max had no idea how to flatter a girl.

But the green hair girl didn't leave in huff, instead she eyed Max's tray, which was almost spilling over with tokens.

"Would you be willing to bet all that?" She asked and Rick had to admit that she had a very nice voice.

Max seemed to agree, he was almost knocked off his feet. "Sure am!" He set down his tray and sat in the chair across from her. "This is great, I know we're gonna have a great game!'

Rick wasn't too sure, form the look that the girl was giving, he sensed she was one who took games **very** seriously.


	23. Chapter 23

"_When trying to score a date with a woman it's important to put your best foot forward…but not __**too**__ forward."_ Rick Hunter

* * *

Miriya had been thrown by the sudden appearance of blue haired micronian; thus far none had dared break her concentration on the simulation. She had not even realised two micronians could combat against each other, but it made sense.

Of **course** none of them had been willing to challenge her, even not knowing she was Zentraedi, she could defeat anyone of them with ease.

She did not expect much from the blue haired one, despite his full tray of earnings. He had probably been on one of the easier simulators or had gone against a weaker opponent.

"So, should we start on Level B?" The blue haired one asked.

And then he **winked** at her.

Miriya was shocked to the core, a number of males had made that gesture at her, but she had not expected to encounter it in combat.

"Hmmm, certainly," she replied, recovering herself.

They both fed one token into their respective slots and on screen two virtual micronian females appeared each on striking a gong while the word _Begin!_ appeared.

And in that flying mode Miriya in her red micronian mecha faced the blue one of the male.

The game moved swiftly…too swiftly, in seconds her mecha had been destroyed!

Her eyes wide in disbelief, Miriya gaped at the screen. _**Impossible**__!_

"Whoops," the blue haired male chuckled. "Looks like I won that round. Should we go on to Level A?"

"Huh?" She looked up and he winked **again**.

_A micronian weapon!_ She realised, a wave of disorientation sweeping over her. _So __**that's**__ your game…act weak…Well it won't work __**twice**__, _she swore and gave a brisk nod. "Yes, let's go on to Level A, I'm sure that will be most **interesting**."

The blue haired micronian pressed a button on his console and suddenly a blue orb rose up from the flat screen and the virtual mecha, switching into that second mode rose up into it.

When they were level with their player's eyes, the mecha changed again into that body-like form, the one resembling a Quaedluun-Rau.

A gong sounded and then…

Miriya threw her virtual mecha into an extreme dive, just missing the laser fire of her opponent. Who would believe he'd be so fast?

Miriya's returning shots went wide and she found herself ducking and weaving just to keep in the simulation.

_Who __**is**__ this male and how does he fight like this?_ He was not the one who had bested her in actual combat, she knew, he flew nothing like the infamous 'Skull Leader'. But he was good, very good maybe even –

Her eyes narrowed and her teeth clenched with effort, Miriya gave the simulation everything she had, she could barely find an opportunity to fire upon him.

Dimly, she recalled Seloy's report of that battle, how while Miriya fought the 'Skull Leader', a blue mecha had cut a swathe of destruction through the Quadronos. She had not really cared at the time; after all, it was each Zentraedis responsibility to keep themselves alive. If they couldn't…well…

But she had not expected him to be so good!

Her recovering pride began to trickle away…she could not beat this one either.

She could not –

* * *

_Wow, isn't she beautiful, _Max sighed to himself, watching the lovely face before him, if only briefly. She was a formidable player; he had never been up against anyone so good. She almost got him a few times!

He had found his soul mate for sure.

He was barely aware of the huge crowd that had gathered to watch the game play out, or that the owners of the arcade had put the game up on the various screens so even more people could watch the battle unfold.

He was in his own little world, like he was in during combat, except there was one other person with him now.

He pushed the fire button on his control stick rapidly, trying to get a fix on her.

_Such lovely eyes,_ Max thought as his met hers.

At that moment his shots hit home, the red veritech dropped its Gatling and then exploded into a million pieces.

The crowd made a sound halfway between a gasp and a groan.

The blue hemisphere fell away and on Max's side of the screen, the head of his Battloid opened a little pilot jumped out.

"Oh **man**, I can't believe you pulled that off!" A guy next to him exclaimed, giving him a clap on the back. "You must be some sort of piloting **genius**!"

Max grinned, watching as a virtual Minmei ran to the little pilot on screen and threw her arms around him. Together they jumped up and down; the little Minmei's planting kisses all over the pilot's face.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that exactly," he shrugged, "there were a coupla tight spots in the middle and near the end, but all in all it wasn't **too** tough."

He didn't have time to bask in his success though, at that moment his soul mate got to her feet and whirled about as if to leave.

"Wait!" Max cried, almost in a panic and lunging forward grabbed her wrist. "Don't leave yet! This is my only chance to get your name and phone number."

The girl glared at him and he wondered, too late, if his gloating had annoyed her. "Hmpf! My name is Miriya, and I don't presently have a phone number," she replied tightly, tugging on her arm.

Max thought to ask why that was, **everyone** had a phone in Macross didn't they? But he dismissed it. "Well, can you meet me at the park tonight at nine o'clock?" He asked while his confidence was still high, nonetheless he still held his breath, waiting for her answer.

"Oh, whatever you want!" Miriya cried. "Just let me go!"

Max was loathe to do so, but he loosened his grip.

"Thank you," she did not look at him as she yanked her hand away and ran from the arcade.

"Wow," Max leaned back in his seat, "isn't she amazing?"

But he did have to wonder from her expression just how well that date would go.

* * *

"So?" Lisa asked, barely able to get the word out.

Her father had now viewed it all, what would he say? Would he react like Captain Gloval hoped or like Lisa feared?

Her father returned to his desk and set the report and medical files on the table top, looking down at them for some minutes. Finally he looked up.

"I think with this information the UEC will change its mind," he spoke slowly, each word lessening the tension. "It's certainly changed mine It seems improbable, but the aliens are practically humans themselves! I believe then that they can be reasoned with and we **must** reason with them."

"Oh, Father!" Lisa jumped to her feet. "I'm so relieved you think that! Together we can stop this war, I know we can and then the SDF-1 can come home!"

Her father gave her a small smile. "It can indeed."

"Are you going to talk to the Council right away? We should get the report to them as soon as possible, "Lisa went over to eject the vid-recording. "After all, every day we're at war is a day needless killing could occur."

Her father looked slightly surprised at her words, but he nodded, gathering up the report and files and placing them back in the brief case. Lisa handed him the recording and he put that in too before closing the case.

"I'll convene a meeting straight away," he told her, pressing a button on his desk. "I'm afraid you can't actually enter the Meeting Room," he continued, coming around the desk and putting a hand on her shoulder. "You can wait outside, or if you'd rather your quarters-"

"No, I want to hear the news the moment you get out," Lisa spoke firmly.

"All right, then let's go."

This time the ride in the elevator did not seem stifling to her.

* * *

"Don't we have any coconut, how could we not have any coconut?"

Roy looked up from his laptop, where he was going over the performance ratings for the first combat flight of the FAST pack veritechs.

Claudia was in the kitchen doorway, hands on hips.

"Huh?" He asked, absently, distracted by the amazing figures on his screen.

"**Coconut**, Fokker, you know, **my** favourite tropical treat? We've got enough pineapple here to sink a **ship**!"

"I hope not," he wagged his eyebrows at her.

"Oh, shut up," Claudia rolled her eyes, "what are you going to do about this?"

"**Me**?" Roy pointed to himself. "Why do **I** have to do anything?"

Claudia gave him a pleading look. "Because you're a gentleman, you **are** a gentleman, aren't you?"

"That's an unfair question."

"No, it's not," Claudia battered her eyelashes at him in an exaggerated manner. "It's a perfectly **fair** question, especially since you're just sitting there while **I** slave over the stove."

"You're making a **cold** dinner," Roy objected, "and this is important stuff," he gestured to the screen. "Caruthers and Maistroff could test me on this crap at anytime."

"Oh please, they're too upset about the aliens being on board to even leave their quarters. If anything you'll be **safer** from them in Macross City."

Roy groaned and threw up his hands. "You're not gonna let this one go, are you?"

"Nope."

"Oh fine," Roy closed the FAST pack file and shut the laptop lid, "I'll go, but you **owe** me."

"Well, I guess **that** answers the 'gentleman' question," Claudia folded her arms.

"No," Roy said with a lecherous grin. "**This** does," he gave her bottom a pinch as he walked by.

"Hey!" Claudia objected as Roy laughed. "You better get the coconut from the best grocer in town," she warned as he disappeared through the door.

* * *

For the past week Minmei had spent nearly all her time at Kyle's bed side. She hadn't planned to, of course, not after he'd kissed her, but Aunt Lena had told her that Kyle seemed much happier with her around and considering he'd saved her life less than a month before she felt she really owed him.

Kyle had been quite groggy at first, but now he was much more alert, though his head was still swathed in bandages.

"Well, tonight's the night," she announced as he walked about the room packing up various things Minmei had brought him from his room at the Hotel. "You'll be free of this white walls and the icky hospital food."

Kyle didn't respond his mind seemed far away.

Minmei puffed up the pillows on the bed, which he had remade, hospital corners and all.

"So, what should we do first? I think we should go to the _White Dragon_, after all your parents will be there."

"Of course, that's where they've been this whole week," Kyle replied, his tone distinctly sour.

"Well, they've been supplying food for all the clean-up crews," Minmei pointed out.

"They wouldn't be if we weren't fighting this pointless war," Kyle snapped.

Minmei decided to change the subject this was always bad territory.

"I hope we won't be mobbed when we leave," she said instead, "after all you **do** have a head injury."

"I can handle the press just fine," Kyle spoke confidently.

_I'm not sure __**I **__can, _Minmei thought, but did not say so aloud.

At that moment a nurse appeared at the door. "Miss Lynn, Mr Lynn, I take it you're ready to go."

"Certainly am," Kyle remarked, "the quality of care in this place is pathetic. No doubt you're all too busy fawning over the military men who end up in here."

Minmei gave a nervous giggle, trying to make it seem that Kyle was joking. She could tell by the look the nurse gave that she wasn't fooled.

"Well, you're free to go whenever you'd like," she responded, coolly, "and I hope we won't need to see you again."

Minmei watched the nurse leave and considered saying something nasty to Kyle, instead she said in a small voice. "Was that really necessary?"

"I'm just telling it like it is," Kyle replied, snapping his suitcase closed. He took a look out the window then picked the suitcase up. "All right, let's go, I can't wait to sleep in a comfortable bed for once."

With that he strode from the room, Minmei in his wake, she, too looked forward to getting back to the hotel.

But as the elevator opened on the ground floor and microphones and cameras appeared Minmei's heart sank.

It looked like it wasn't going to be that easy.

* * *

"Hey shut up! It's Minmei!" Tezel shouted, grabbing the remote to un-mute the TV.

The Zentraedi gathered in the common room around Rico, Konda and Bron turned as one.

True to Tezel's word there was Minmei, seated primly on a bench a long haired micronian beside her.

"Who is she?" One of them wondered idly, pointing. "She looks strange for a female."

Rico chuckled. "That's not a female! His name is Lynn Kyle and he spends a lot of time with Minmei."

The Zentraedi gave Kyle an envious look, each one wishing they could be in his place.

"If he's not a female, why is his hair so long?" Furel wanted to know, looking at a strand of his own hair.

"Some micronian males grow their hair out like that," Konda shrugged. "It's up to them though."

"Ooh," the Zentraedi were still trying to grasp the idea that most of the micronians wore whatever they chose, not uniforms. They all still felt they should be commonly dressed to represent their alien status.

"Minmei! Minmei!" A loud voice came from the TV. "Is it true that while Lynn Kyle has been convalescing here you've been at his bedside **constantly**?"

Minmei frowned. "I wouldn't say that, I've been giving my evening performances after all."

The Zentraedi all nodded eagerly, they had been watching of course.

"So, there's not truth to the rumours that you're planning to marry?" The voice pressed.

Minmei looked almost as stunned as the Zentraedi did. "What? That's completely untrue!"

"Really, you've never thought about marriage to anyone **at all**? What about that pilot of yours? How does he feel about that?"

Minmei looked completely bemused, then he face relaxed into a smile and she waved a hand. "Oh, you mean Rick Hunter?" She laughed. "He was just a friend."

"What's this marriage they keep talking about," Mardul, still grimy from his day of work with the micronians, wanted to know.

There was a chorus of 'Yeahs'.

Rico, Konda and Bron exchanged looks, as if they were considering something, then Rico spoke.

"It's a very important micronian custom, basically a male and female go off alone together for a while and spend all their time pressing lips."

There was a cacophony of sound at this, the Zentraedi looking at each other wild eyed.

"Pressing lips all the **time**?"

"Why would they do that?"

"Will **we** have to do that?"

"How do we choose a female?"

Bron held up his hands. "It's not required! And as for choosing which female you want…" he trailed off.

"You spend time with them first," Konda picked up," doing non-lip pressing activities until you like each other."

"Oooh."

"So does that mean **you** three are going to marry the three females we saw today?"

Rico, Konda and Bron looked at each other in shock; they had never even considered **that**.

Now it had been suggested, though…

"We might," Bron said with a grin.

"If you all stop talking about us pressing lips with them in front of them," Konda remarked with a glare.

"Yeah, females don't like that," Rico added, "so don't blow our chances."

* * *

Donald Hayes wiped the perspiration from his forehead as he opened the secondary Meeting Room door. The rest of the council exited through the main door, but Lisa was waiting for him here and he had to tell her the good news.

Lisa looked as if she wanted to climb the walls, he couldn't blame her, it had been a sixty long minutes since he had left her sitting there.

"Father!" She came to her feet. "What happened? What did they say?"

He came over and took her hand. "Well, I don't know for sure, but I think I got through to them…they'll agree to negotiate."

"Oh Father!" Lisa cried, and suddenly she wrapped her arms around him tightly, hugging him like she hadn't in years, not since she was a little girl, not since before Andrea had died. "Thank you! Thank you!"

Donald felt his eyes fill with tears; he closed them and hugged his daughter back.

Finally, sniffling the two let go of each other and laughed at the sight of each others faces.

"Well, I guess we're normal after all," Lisa gave a laughed, wiping at her eyes.

"Oh, I don't think we ever could be," Donald disagreed, shaking his head, then he took her arm in his. "Come on, let's go."

He didn't say where, but Lisa didn't ask and soon they were in the elevator again.

He had noticed a change in her; she seemed to be more open now, with herself as well as others. He had a suspicious as to what it was, but now he felt able to ask.

"So, tell me what's been going on with your life?" He began. "Is there any special man in your life?"

He was rewarded by his daughter blushing and ducking her head, he chuckled. "Hmmm…?"

Lisa twisted a strand of thick brown hair around her finger. "Well…there **is** a young man," she finally admitted.

"Aha, military, I suppose?"

"Yes, he's a pilot," Lisa nodded, still not able to meet his eyes.

He was happy to hear it. He had not exactly approved of Lisa's last love, Karl Riber, not because of his pacifist views, per se but because he seemed less serious about Lisa then she was about him. He hoped this new man would care for Lisa as she deserved to be.

The elevator stopped with a ping and the doors opened.

"Come along, I want to show you something," he said, getting to his feet.

Lisa followed and started as they immediately walked out onto a narrow walkway suspended far in the air.

"It's perfectly safe," he assured her, reaching out to take her hand.

Lisa smiled. "I know, I was just reminded of the alien battle cruiser…the one I ended up on," she clarified.

"Ah, yes, of course," he nodded. "Well, it's not surprising, after all this is based upon alien technology after all." He waved his hand about the cavernous space. "This is the Grand Cannon, Lisa."

Lisa's eyes widened, he didn't blame her, he too sometimes felt overwhelmed at the sheer size of the weapon.

He turned to look up at the shaft of the weapon. "Before we enter negotiations with the aliens, we plan to fire it at their fleet."

"**WHAT**?!" Lisa's voice echoed loudly.

Donald looked over his shoulder, surprised at her response. "It is our belief that a show of great force will strengthen our position and if there's anything we've learned it's that force speaks volumes."

"I don't believe this!" Lisa cried, shaking her head. "You can't be serious! Do you realise how **big** the alien fleet is! This…**thing**," she gestured around, "wouldn't destroy a small flotilla! Never mind one of their enormous motherships! The completely outrank us in firepower, Father! They only way to save ourselves is to try and bring peace **without** escalating the war!"

Donald was completely stunned, he had not expected such a reaction, things had been going so well…

"Lisa, you know what war is like as much as I do, how things are done and believe me, this Grand Cannon is more powerful than anything you could conceive."

"All I can conceive of it is that it will doom us all! The Zentraedi won't be meek when exposed to force, they'll fight back! And we'll die, all of us will!"

"Lisa," Donald held up a hand, trying to calm her.

"Father, listen to me! The defectors came to us without us fighting them or threatening them! They came because our society offers a life beyond warfare, beyond violence! **That's** the way to get through to them!"

Donald shook his head, the entire notion was ridiculous! As if it was that easy?! _What nonsense has Gloval been filling her with now?_ He thought, anger at his old friend bubbling to the surface again.

He turned his back on his daughter and clasped his hands behind his back. "Lisa, the decision has been made," he said, coldly, "the Cannon is all ready been prepared to fire. And when it does, you will see I'm right about this."

Lisa did not respond, in fact the silence was eerie. When he turned around he realised why. Lisa had left the platform, back to the elevator and the doors were closing, before they did Donald saw tears streaming down her cheeks, but they were no longer tears of happiness.

* * *

Miriya stalked through the city streets, her fury was almost uncontainable. She clutched one of her knives in hand, she saw nobody in the street, which was probably a very good thing for them because she was willing to use that knife on the first person she came across.

There was a terrible pain in her chest; it had been there since she had run from the arcade. She wished more than anything that that feeling would just go away; she had never felt anything like it before.

Her defeat at the simulator played over and over in her mind, along with her defeat in actual combat.

_Two micronians! Two puny micronians had defeated me! This cannot be! This cannot stand!_ The furious thoughts whirled through her head. Closing her eyes tightly Miriya tried to banish them, to get a hold of herself. Zentraedi did not run wild, well good Zentraedi didn't at least.

But the thoughts would not leave her.

She looked about the street, wishing she was full-sized, so she could lash out destroy these buildings, this horrible, disgusting society. At that very moment, she wished that the entire universe would destroy itself, she did not care for her own life, she did not care if she never saw another battle. If she had to die to wipe out the entire miserable race she would do it in heart beat.

And then…there he was.

Ahead of her…the tallest micronian she'd ever seen, dressed in a grey jacket.

She knew every detail of that uniform, she had memorised it that day she had snuck into the base.

Her grip tightened around the knife. Her eyes narrowed, her body filled with hate.

Finally the time had come; finally she would have her revenge.

Without even thinking she started running, she swung the knife above her head as a scream tore from her throat.

"Skull Leader, prepare for your doom!"


	24. Chapter 24

"_Well, it's nothing that a knife-fight won't cure…"_ A quote arising from the following events

* * *

Finding a good quality coconut had not been as easy as Roy thought. He had ended up having to go to the other side of town passed a multitude of screens that were all displaying the latest interview with Minmei and Lynn Kyle, which he certainly had no interest in.

But now he had the coconut in hand and was heading back to the base when suddenly the sound of running footsteps and an unintelligible scream pierced the night.

Whirling around Roy's eyes widened in disbelief, a woman was running at him her arm raised high above her head, light from a streetlight glinting off…

_A knife?_

The woman's arm arched forward and something came flying right at him, Roy leapt out of the way, but slightly too late. A searing pain shot across his shoulder.

"Ugh!" The coconut fell from his hand as he reached out and clutched his left shoulder. All ready blood was seeping through his jacket. "What the Hell?!"

The woman in front of him quick as a flash produced another knife and continued coming right for him, letting out another scream.

She hit him with a force that seemed disproportionate to her size, and they fell to the pavement.

"What are you doing?"

The woman did not answer, instead the slashed at him with the knife, the blade heading right for his throat.

His hands came up and grasped her wrist tightly, halting the knife's path; the woman grunted and put her other hand on the knife handle exerting even more force.

His shoulder screaming in pain he put up his left hand too, struggling against her.

"You'll pay," the woman was snarling, "you'll pay."

"Who are you?" Roy hissed, trying to push her off him. Was this woman on drugs or something?

Suddenly she lashed out with her left hand her long fingernails gripping his injured shoulder, with a cry of pain he let go of her wrists and the knife slashed down.

Somehow he dodged the blade and out the corner of his eye spotted the coconut. It had to be the most ridiculous weapon, but desperate times…

He flipped over onto his stomach, surprising the woman and causing her to falter in her attack. But he was pretty sure though she was going to go for the back of his neck.

But he had the coconut in hand and twisting struck her as hard as he could across the side of her face sending her head snapping back.

"Argh!" The knife fell with a clatter.

But before he could get out from under her, her hands went around his throat.

He couldn't believe this, he had no idea what was happening…where the Hell had this women come from? And why the Hell was she trying to kill him?

Reaching out he grabbed at her hair, yanking it.

Her hands released his throat and he scrambled trying to get to his feet, but she was still trying to bring him down.

"Get off!" He threw back an elbow catching her hard in the stomach.

He saw the knife on the ground, wondering should he grab it? Should he really try to kill this woman? She obviously wanted to kill him…

"You can't escape," the woman hissed in his ear, "you may have defeated me in mecha, but not hand to hand."

They fell to the ground again, and Roy ended up with his face been pushed hard into the pavement.

_Defeated in __**mecha**__?_

There was a scraping sound, she had the knife again, he was sure.

Suddenly he rolled out from under her, just in time to miss the blade which struck the ground.

On his feet again, Roy ran for it.

But the woman was on his heels and she launched herself at him, no doubt wanting to tackle him to the ground again. He lunged out of her way, and she rushed past by almost immediately whirled on her heel and was right in front of him.

"What are you talking about?" He shouted at her, holding his shoulder. "Are you completely insane?!"

"I am Quadrono Leader, Miriya Parina, Zentraedi Air Force."

Roy stared at her, it was almost incomprehensible. "Zentraedi?"

With a scream she rushed at him the knife slashing at him again. He flung himself out of the way, tripping and landing sprawled on the ground.

She was coming right at him again and kicking out a leg he tripped her.

"Listen, whoever you are, I don't want to fight you," he gasped as he scrambled to his feet.

"**I** am the Zentraedi's greatest pilot!" The woman was on her feet again. "And I will **not** be humiliated by a mere micronian!"

And she was at him again.

Roy had never fought a woman before, despite the increasing numbers of women in combat positions in the military these days, it wasn't really considered proper to. But obviously there was nothing for it…

As the knife slashed towards him, Roy grabbed the woman's wrist and twisted it hard.

With a cry of pain she dropped the knife, but at the same second she brought her left hand across in a slicing motion striking his throat.

The air was knocked out of him, but he ducked and delivered the hardest punch he could at the woman's abdomen.

She ended up on her knees as well, but he could tell by the look on her face she wasn't going to give up any time soon.

The surrounding streets were completely deserted and Roy was beginning to feel light headed as the blood continued to pulse from the wound in his shoulder.

* * *

Max fiddled with his red tie, wondering if he really should have taken Rick's word on it. Since joining the military he hadn't seen his friend in civvies very often, and when he had 'fashionable' had not been the first word that came to mind.

But it was too late to change his clothes.

Then again it might be too late for the date.

Pulling back the sleeve of his blazer Max checked his watch for what had to be the twentieth time. It was half past nine and Miriya was nowhere in sight.

Max heaved a sigh and shoved his hand back into his pocket. _I must be a total fool. Why would a girl like that what to go out with me? After all I made a total fool of myself in the arcade._

Still Max was not prepared to leave yet, after all, it was not as if he had anything else to do and he'd wait for Miriya forever.

He walked over to the Peace Fountain, and hunted through his pocket, thinking maybe tossing a penny in and making a wish would bring his green haired soul mate into sight. But in his haste to get to the park on time, he had forgotten his wallet, which was certainly going to be embarrassing to explain if she finally did show up.

Then he froze a sudden wave of fear coming over him, he clapped a hand to his forehead. "Oh God, what was I thinking asking her to meet me here in a park? A girl, alone at night? She could get mugged or something!"

But that didn't seem right either…firstly the streets of Macross City were very quiet this night, secondly, muggings weren't something that happened in Macross. There was crime, but the violent sort was very rare, after all there weren't many places to hide on the fortress.

_Nah, no-one would mug her, _Max consoled himself, _she's too pretty for that anyway._

For a moment he wondered if perhaps she had gone to the wrong park, at the time Max had not considered that aside from Macross Park, there was another smaller park (which was more a patch of dirt with a couple of trees on it) on the other side of town.

But surely not…

_Then again, that park __**is**_ _closer to the arcade…maybe she just assumed…_

As soon as the thought occurred to him, Max was certain that was what happened and even though he was a pretty sure she certainly wouldn't have waited for him, he broke into a sprint.

Maybe, just maybe he'd be lucky this time…

* * *

_Friends, huh…so after everything that happened, we're just friends…I should have know, I mean Rick Hunter, bad luck they mean the same things._ In complete disgust Rick flung himself back down on his bed, folding his hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling.

He thought of Max, who had stopped by to ask about what tie he should wear on his big date. It certainly hadn't occurred to **him** that the whole thing might go to Hell that the girl – Miriya, Max had said her name was – might not like him, or she might not even show up.

But Rick hadn't said anything like that, after all, why bring Max down?

For a moment he considered switching the TV back on, it had been more than half an hour, surely the Minmei and Kyle interview wouldn't still be going on.

_Then again, what else the media have to say on this damn ship,_ Rick thought, sitting up and punching his pillow. And it certainly didn't want to turn the set back on so he could see Kyle taking the next step after admitting that he'd thought of proposing to Minmei…actually popping the question.

Rick felt sick just thinking about it…remembering how, another life time ago it seemed, way back at the beginning of this war. How he and Minmei ended up trapped in a disused part of the SDF-1, how for nearly two weeks they had worked together to survive. How eventually, it all seemed hopeless and Minmei had mournfully told him how much she wished she could be a bride.

At that time she'd been willing to go through a mock ceremony with him, they had even shared an all too brief kiss. Now though, Minmei had nothing to say except that he was 'just' a friend, obviously not a very important one.

For a moment Rick felt like doing a lot more than just punching his pillow. He wanted to find and smash Lynn Kyle's **face**.

But Rick could not blame Kyle, things between him and Minmei had been all but non-existent by the time Kyle even arrived on the ship. No, whatever had made Minmei turn from him, it had nothing to do with Lynn Kyle, loathe as Rick was to admit that.

Finally he decided he might as well go for a walk, or maybe even a run, he sincerely doubted he'd be able to get to sleep otherwise.

He didn't bother to change though, his uniform shoes were comfortable enough to run in, so leaping from his bunk he started jogging as soon as he feet hit the floor.

Within minutes he was he was jogging out of Barracks B and out the gates of the RDF Base, passed the complex that housed the Zentraedi defectors. Rick briefly wished he was one of them, after all they were so excited about human society they'd been willing to risk death. Rick hadn't been excited about anything since…

_Since I thought about asking Lisa out to dinner,_ he thought, slightly shocked. He never would have believed it, but it was true. Just the other night he had wondered about how to ask her and where they would go (not the _White Dragon_ that was for sure).

But of course, Lisa was now back on Earth, out of reach as much as Minmei was.

_Love stinks_.

* * *

Her father had sent her another letter, but Lisa hadn't even bothered to read this one before tearing it into a thousand pieces.

She couldn't believe it, she couldn't believe her father would do this, in all the time she had known him…she never would have expected him to buy into those pathetic old ideals of 'gunboat diplomacy'. In fact she recalled when she had been in school before their relationship had become so strained, Lisa had been studying the history of the Cold War.

The very idea of 'gunboat diplomacy' has escaped and when she had brought it up with him, her father had agreed.

_I guess it's true what they say then_, she thought, bitterly, _power corrupts._

She was sure her father had not become so closed minded, so cold until he was elected to the United Earth Council. Before then, he had been busy, but he had always been willing to listen to her and to Gloval. But within a few years, that had all changed. Lisa had always assumed that it had had to do with Karl, after all, his views had been in complete opposition with her father's, or at least as opposed a man in the military could be.

But Lisa now saw that it was the influence of the Council and the position itself that had changed her father.

Getting to her feet, Lisa paced the room.

She had not even been here for a day and she all ready hated the place. Her quarters on the SDF-1 certainly hadn't been able to claim a beautiful view, but the fact she was on Earth made the lack of windows and being underground all the much worse. She felt like she was in some sort of rabbit hole, like she was some sort of coward. Safe and sound below the earth while the real heroes faced danger every second of every day.

She was not about to stay that way, stalking to the desk in the corner of the room, Lisa yanked out the chair and sat down. Opening the top desk drawer she found some stationary with an _Alaska Base_ letterhead.

_How homey,_ she thought with disgust, grabbing up a piece and from the desk top picked up a pen that lay there and with the pen biting into the paper with the force of her anger she wrote a note to her father…no, to the **Admiral**.

_Dear Sir,_

_ Having presented my report to you as required by the orders given to me by Captain Henry Gloval, I request immediate transfer back to my post on the SDF-1._

_ As you well know, my term of duty there is for four years, and I'm certain you would never consider ignoring what is clearly a necessary duty._

_ I await your reply._

_ Commander Lisa Hayes_

Folding the letter, she stuffed it into an envelope, and grabbing up the nearby phone dialled a number.

"Lieutenant Johansson," her father's aide answered.

"Lieutenant Johansson, could you please come to my quarters on Level Thirty-Five," Lisa said in a tightly controlled voice. "I have an urgent message for my father."

* * *

Miriya's arms were trembling she was putting everything she had into killing the 'Skull Leader' into finally ending her torment. But he his hands were wrapped around her wrists, holding her at bay yet again.

But he clearly did not have the strength to overcome her, just as she didn't have the strength to overcome him.

The very thought of it infuriated her.

With a bloodthirsty snarl she kicked out with a boot heel, striking him in the shin. He flinched from the pain, his grip slackening slightly and she pressed the advantage, but he took advantage of her momentum pulling her off balance and sending her half falling to the ground.

In her mind it had all been so easy, she would catch him unaware and slit his throat.

But like the arcade game with that blue haired micronian it had not happened anything like that. Instead she and her enemy had struggled, she did not know for how long, but it seemed like an eternity.

He was trying to get away from her, but the blood loss from the wound she had managed to inflict upon him was slowing him down.

But she was disorientated as well, she had no idea what he had struck her with early in their fight, but whatever it was had almost sent her into unconsciousness and she was struggling now not to fall into it. If she did, he would surely kill her, never mind his claim he did not want to fight her.

She lunged at him with the knife, but misjudged her swing, missing him completely, she reached out with her other hand and grabbed his injured shoulder, causing him to shout in pain and stumble.

The two fell to the pavement again.

"It's no use," she ground out through panting breaths and the haze that threatened to envelope her. "You're no match for me…I'll kill you…"

He swung an arm at her knocking the knife from her grasp again. It was now slick with blood and hard to keep a hold of.

At the same time they lunged for it neither managing to grab it.

"I don't **want **to kill you," she heard him say, "I don't know what's wrong with you, but I don't want to kill you."

Miriya shook her head, not so much to dispel the haze, for that seemed to be a permanent fixture now, but to dispel his words. What did he mean that he didn't want to kill her? How could he not? She was his enemy and she realised she had in a way defeated him as he had defeated her in that battle. There was only one reason she could think of for his words.

_He doesn't believe me,_ she thought, and the thought made her angry…or what she thought was anger, she wasn't even sure now.

"Then I will finish you," her voice was hoarse, her fingers finally finding the knife handle.

Gripping the knife as tightly as she could with both hands so she would not lose her grip she raised it high over her head.

Despite his words the 'Skull Leader' like Miriya herself, was not willing to give up, though she pinned him down, he still managed to grab her forearms with both of his hands.

_Why can't I defeat you?! _Miriya thought desperately as they struggled once more. _Why?_

Suddenly there was the sound of running footsteps.

"Hey! What is all this?!" A voice cried out, a familiar voice…Miriya looked up almost against her will.

It was the blue haired micronian, the one who had defeated her so soundly at the simulator…

"No," she cried out weakly, the 'Skull Leader' was her equal that she knew, but this blue haired micronian…he could defeat her easily, it was over, it was all over.

The knife fell from her hands.

"Miriya?" The micronians eyes were wide behind those blue glasses. "Miriya, what?"

The strange feeling in her chest came back, just looking at him…the dizziness and haziness that she had been battling almost overwhelmed her.

She staggered to her feet. If she had to die, and she was sure she would, she would do so with dignity, with all her warrior spirit.

But the blue haired micronian made no move towards her, towards the knife just metres from him. Instead he went to the 'Skull Leader' and took in the blood.

"Why have you done this?" His voice had an odd effect on her, suddenly she didn't know **what** she was doing and it had nothing to do with having been struck. These…these…**feelings** were unlike those she knew, were ones she could not identify.

As he crouched down beside the 'Skull Leader' looking over the shoulder wound, Miriya realise they were both off guard…All she had to do was take up the knife and kill them, the blue haired one first…he wasn't even looking at her…

But Miriya couldn't move. All she could do was watch as the blue haired micronian pulled one of those portable communication devices from his jacket and dial a number.

She didn't know what was wrong with her, she didn't know why, but she couldn't do it, her opportunity was right there, every Zentraedi instinct screamed at her to fulfil the goal she had been so fixed on.

But she couldn't, she just couldn't.

Staggering, she turned and began to run, but she knew she wouldn't get far, the corners of her vision all ready becoming dim and then finally dark.


	25. Chapter 25

"_It is clear that the activities common in the micronian culture are purely diversionary, obviously they sense an emptiness in their lives having no Imperative. Their emphasis on 'relationships' is a prime example, for what comes out of them but confusion?"_ Quoted from Exedore Formo's War notes

* * *

Rick ran into Macross General Hospital with enough speed that he almost ploughed right into the Reception Desk before he managed to come to a stop.

The receptionist stared up at him in surprise.

"Fokker," Rick blurted out, "Commander Fokker, he's here isn't he?"

"Uh…just a moment," the receptionist turned to the computer and began typing rapidly.

Rick couldn't keep still, he shifted his weight from foot to foot as he waited, it seemed to be taking an extraordinarily long time…wasn't technology supposed to speed **up** things?

The sliding glass doors of the Hospital entrance slid open again and in rushed Claudia.

"Rick!" She ran over to him grabbing his arms. "What happened? Where's Roy? What- what-" Her voice shook so hard she couldn't get anymore out.

Rick managed to grab her hands, and despite his own fear he did his best to calm her. "He's fine, I'm sure he's fine, Claudia, he has to be-"

At that moment the receptionist looked up. "Commander Fokker is currently in surgery."

Claudia gave a small moan.

"Is he going to be all right? How…what exactly happened?"

The receptionist shook her head. "I have no information on that, but he's in Operating Room Five, just down the corridor there, I think the man who called the medics is in the waiting room just off it, he probably knows more."

"Thank you," Rick tugged on Claudia's hand, and together they hurried in the direction the receptionist pointed.

The short walk seemed to take an eternity, but finally the double doors of the waiting room to O.R Five.

"Max?!" Rick blinked in disbelief when he saw his friend in there, pacing. "Aren't you supposed to be on a date?"

Max looked over at him, an expression on his face Rick had never seen before.

"Max," Claudia took a shaking breath, "Roy…did you find him? Is he all right?"

Rick hadn't even made the connection, he wasn't sure why and he was surprised when Max nodded.

"I came across him in the middle of a…a fight."

"What? A **fight**?" Rick couldn't believe his ears. "What sort of fight? Who was he fighting?"

He knew that Roy had been involved in the odd run-in, but a fight that ended up in the Emergency Room?

"He has a bad shoulder injury," Max explained, but his mind seemed to be far away. "The fight must have been going on for a while before I came; because the medics said he's lost a lot of blood…it was all over the place."

Claudia gave a fearful cry and sank into one of the chairs that lined the walls. Rick was surprised by Max's lack of tact; usually he could be depended on to deliver the worst news in the best way possible.

"But they got to him in time," Rick urged Max to say what he desperately needed to hear. "He'll recover?"

Max still had that blank look on his face. "The doctor didn't really say anything…"

A stab of guilt hit Rick, suddenly he realised he wasn't been particularly tactful himself. After all, the scene Max had stumbled upon must have been horrible.

Walking over, he put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Hey, you OK? I…uh…I hope you didn't miss your date-"

Max turned to him, looking almost angry. "That's where my date was!" He suddenly burst out.

"What?"

"Miriya, she…she was there," Max turned away seeming unable to meet Rick's eyes.

"What? What do you mean **there**? You mean you went for a walk and you came across the fight –"

Max suddenly shrugged off his hand and turned away. "No, I mean **she** was the one Commander Fokker was fighting."

For a few minutes, Rick was pretty sure he had to be dreaming, none of this was making sense. He even went so far as to pinch the back of his hand, but he didn't wake up.

"Roy was fighting Miriya, is that what you're saying?" He asked, trying to figure it all out.

"Yes."

"But…" Rick couldn't even think of the question, let alone the words to ask it. "Why?"

"She's…she's the enemy, Rick," Max spoke, his voice trembling. "She's Zentraedi."

"Zentraedi?!"

It was Claudia who spoke, Rick hadn't realised she'd been listening, but now she had got to her feet and had come over. "A female Zentraedi on board? How did she get here? I thought the male and female Zentraedi were segregated."

Max shook his head. "I don't know how, but she didn't come with them, she's been here since we left Earth," he told her quietly. "I first saw her at Minmei's movie premiere."

"And she…she **attacked** Roy," Claudia asked, looking extremely pale. "But why?"

Rick nodded without realising it, he wanted to know the answer to that as much as Claudia.

Max's answer was disappointing. "I don't know," he shook his head and refused to meet either of their eyes. "I just don't know."

* * *

The woman lay in a secured room of Macross General. The medics had loaded her into the ambulance as well, despite what Lieutenant Sterling had said on the scene. The whole thing seemed unbelievable after all, a beautiful woman like that a Zentraedi? She might be crazy, but they couldn't believe she was an alien.

But not long after she had been admitted, Dr. Lang had arrived with a group of his Robotechnology scientist and Captain Gloval in tow, evidently Sterling had called them.

The woman, the alien rather, Miriya, Lieutenant Sterling had said her name was, had suffered a small fracture in her skull. It didn't seem to be life threatening, but she would need to be kept for observation, in case brain swelling occurred.

The doctor, scientists and Captain hadn't seemed **that** interested, they had wanted to analyse the blood samples that had been taken.

Dr. Hassen had accompanied them and had seen the shocking results for himself. The woman's blood, despite the fact it had the look and consistency of human blood was alien, similar in make-up to that of the Zentraedi defectors who had been examined at the hospital just a week ago.

The whole thing was amazing, there certainly hadn't been any sign of **female** Zentraedi defecting and it seemed clear that she hadn't come with the twenty-three males.

Dr. Hassen had listened as Lieutenant Sterling described the bizarre scene he had come across, the woman and CAG of the Veritech Squadron's in a knock-down drag out fight, the latter bleeding profusely from a shoulder wound.

Sterling had intervened in the fight, and the woman had made as if to escape the scene but seemed extremely disorientated and had collapsed not far from the scene.

So now, Commander Fokker was undergoing surgery and the Captain was waiting impatiently for Dr. Hassen to give him the go-ahead to interview the Zentraedi.

But Hassen had told him it wouldn't be any time soon, Miriya had been placed on a drip that would keep her sedated since that was the best way to keep brain injuries to a minimum

He took one last good look through the glass window in the door at the Zentraedi before heading down the hallway for O.R five, if all had gone well, Commander Fokker would be out of surgery now.

Walking into the waiting room he was surprised to see not only Fokker's wife, but Lieutenants Sterling and Hunter.

"Oh my God!" Claudia gasped at the sight of him. "Is Roy all right? Please-"

Dr. Hassen held up his hand. "I don't know, but give me a moment and I'll find out for you."

Three sets of eyes followed him as he entered the O.R, pulling up his face mask as he did so.

Inside the typical organised chaos of the O.R was well underway, Hassen came up behind Dr. Faber, the surgeon.

"How's it going?" he asked, voice muffled through the face mask.

"Just finishing up," Faber replied, wiping his forearm across his forehead. "It was quite a job, looks like the object, a knife I'd say, was thrown rather than stabbed. It nicked the suprascapular artery, it wasn't much, but well…it was pretty close."

Dr. Hassen looked down at Fokker, who seemed extremely pale, but he trusted Faber's judgement. Thanking the surgeon he turned and headed back into the waiting room, pulling his mask back down as he did.

They were still in the same position as when he left them.

"Commander Fokker has come through the operation fine," he reported to them, and the relief on their faces was evident. "You'll be able to see him, Lieutenant Grant," he spoke to Claudia, "as soon as he;s transferred to a bed."

"What about me?" Lieutenant Hunter demanded, surprising Hassen until he remembered that he and Fokker were unofficial 'brothers'. Hospital bureaucracy though, did not really recognise that sort of relationship…Dr Hassen on the other hand.

"You'll have to keep quiet about it," he said to Hunter, "but you can also visit."

Both Claudia's and Hunter's shoulders drooped in relief and Hassen directed them to go to the third floor recovery ward, and the two clutching each other hurried away.

Hassen turned to Sterling, who seemed to be in a state of shock.

"You OK?" He asked, coming over.

Sterling nodded.

"'Cause you're looking a little pale," Hassen continued, "maybe you should sit down, you saw a Hell of a scene today."

He expected Sterling to protest, as pilots were wont to do, but this time he went over to the nearest chair and fell into it.

Hassen came over and sat beside him.

"It's the girl," Sterling suddenly said, staring at his hands.

"The girl? You mean, the Zentraedi?" Hassen raised his eyebrows.

"Miriya," Sterling muttered.

Hassen was surprised at the tone, it wasn't angry or accusatory. "Do you know her?"

Sterling shrugged.

"Lang's intel seemed to indicate she's been on board for a while," Hassen continued. "So, did you?"

Sterling shook his head. "I wanted to though," he said in a low voice "and crazy as it is I still do."

* * *

Donald stared at the letter.

_So, this is how it is…_ he thought, staring at the cold words, the way the pen had bitten into the page. He set the letter face down on a far corner of the desk, not wanting to look at it. It confirmed everything he had come to fear about himself, that he was a complete failure as a father, even when he tried.

Putting his face in his hands, he tried to think.

_Is she right? Is __**Gloval**__ right?_ Donald asked himself. _If a war-like race can make peaceful overtures, surely __**our**__ race can…after all hasn't humanity always prided itself on finding __**non-violent**__ solutions?_

The questions whirled in his mind, but he had no answer for them. He knew who **would** have though…

"Andrea, what am I supposed to do?" He muttered to himself. "What would **you** do?"

At that moment there was knock on his door.

Even though he knew it was unlikely, he allowed himself to hope.

"Come in."

His heart sank as the door opened and Colonel Edwards marched in rendering a hurried salute. "Admiral."

"Colonel, what is it?"

"I'm wondering exactly when Commander Hayes will be debriefed…after all she **has **come from a ship that is no longer following UEC commands."

Donald blinked in disbelief, not understanding at first what Edwards was getting at.

"Debriefed," he repeated.

Edwards spoke in a calm tone. "You never know what sort of thing Gloval could be planning, that man's been a loose cannon for who knows **how** long."

Donald shook his head. "Captain Gloval is not the sort of man who would ever make a decision that was not in the best interest of his crew," the words slipped out.

Edwards raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think you and Gloval were on particularly good terms, Admiral."

Donald put his fingers to his temples massaging them, he could feel a throbbing headache coming on, and Edwards certainly wasn't helping.

"Look, Colonel, Li- Commander Hayes only arrived on Base this morning, after almost been killed by an alien attack, I hardly think an intensive debriefing is appropriate."

He looked up, and noticed that for a spilt second Edwards lip curled in disgusted, but the look was gone so quickly…

"Of course, sir," Edwards saluted again, "I just thought I'd remind you in the midst of all the…**turmoil** that certain military protocols still need to proceed."

Donald suppressed an urge to just tell the man to get lost, instead he simply said. "Thank you for the reminder, Colonel." Then he got to his feet a clear sign for the other man to leave.

That Edwards did, but Donald's suspicions and uncertainty about the man had just increased a hundredfold.

* * *

"What are we waiting for?" Khyron was pacing the command bubble again. "They're just sitting there, defenceless! Why are we letting them continue, mocking us?"

Grel had his doubts that the micronians were spending their time mocking the Zentraedi, but he certainly wasn't going to say so to his Commander. Fortunately it looked as if some much needed distraction was coming.

"M'lord, a transmission is coming in from Lord Breetai."

"Eh?" Khyron stopped mid-step and looked over his shoulder. "Very well then, let's see what it's all about."

The comm. screen appeared on the surface of the command bubble.

"Khyron," Breetai began coolly.

"Lord Breetai," Khyron's tone was on the edge of been mocking. "To what can owe the honour of this transmission?"

Lord Breetai gave a growl. "Do not push me. Khyron, I am no mood for it."

"My apologies, sir," Khyron's tone negated his words, "no doubt you're worn out from….**questioning** the traitors."

Lord Breetai's one eye narrowed, but he apparently decided it was more trouble than it was worth to get into a sparring contest. "The would-be defectors have revealed to us some…interesting information…primarily regarding Minmei, did you by chance see this micronian female during your assault on Zor's Fortress?"

Khyron sneered. "Certainly not, I was too busy following **orders**."

Lord Breetai gave a curt nod, then asked. "Has there been any talk of the micronian way of life and of Minmei in particular aboard **your** vessel?"

Khyron reeled back, stunned at the question. "Traitors on **my **ship, are you-" He cut himself off just in time to prevent committing treason, but it was definitely a close call. "We heard the talk from your ship, of course," he continued after a moment, shooting a look over his shoulder at Grel.

"So, you certainly had no warning that **your** soldiers would attempt to defect as well?" Lord Breetai pressed.

Grel saw his Commander tense visibly, but it was one of those rare times that Khyron managed to keep calm.

"Certainly not, if I had had **any **concern, I certainly would have dealt with it **before** the attack."

Lord Breetai grunted and gave a nod.

"Is there any particular reason you're asking all these questions, Lord Breetai?" Khyron asked, tightly.

"There is, but it is hardly of **your **concern, Khyron," Breetai growled. "Your cooperation with my questions is noted however."

And with that he broke the connection.

Khyron bit out a curse, and whirled to face Grel. "What is this foolishness? Interrogating traitors instead of executing them, asking pointless questions. Does Dolza know about this ridiculousness?"

Grel was silent, he certainly had no insight as to what the Supreme Commander would know or not know.

Khyron turned away and folded his arms. "Hmmm…perhaps we should make a report of our own, hmmm?"

"M'lord?"

"Well, we have not been ordered to maintain silence have we?" Khyron looked back over his shoulder.

"Well, no, m'lord," Grel gave a small gulp, certainly no one could ever accuse Khyron of a lack of courage…or perhaps it would be fool hardness. "But…"

"Very well then, let us begin to compile a report…one I am **sure** the His Excellency will find...**interesting **to say the least." A sly grin spread over his face as he spoke.

* * *

He was running late, Pop was going to kill him…the aerobatic routine had all ready begun, and he had two minutes to get his plane in the air or the crowd was going to be disappointed and would probably demand a refund.

He couldn't find his boots, he had no idea why they weren't on his feet, but this was hardly the time to wonder about that.

"Roy, come on," he heard Rick's voice; it seemed to come from a long way away.

"Rick, hey, Little Brother, have you seen my boots, I can't fly without them." Roy called, looking about trying to spot Rick.

"Come on, Roy, wake up!" Rick's voice came again.

"I **am** awake," Roy protested, "seriously, where the Hell are my boots! Have you hid them again, you rat?"

"Roy," another voice called, "Roy, please wake up, please."

Suddenly there was a bright light shining in his eyes, he recognised that voice…

He tried to lift an arm to shield his eyes from the bright light, but he couldn't move it.

"Roy," he felt a hand take one of his.

_Claudia!_ Roy remembered, he wasn't at the Flying Circus…where was he? All he could remember was…something about a coconut?

He realised then that his eyes weren't open…his eyelids felt so heavy, but after a struggle he managed to open them.

"Roy!" At first all he could see was a shadow, but Rick came into focus. "Big Brother! Thank God you're all right."

"Oh Roy," he heard Claudia say in a tearful voice and then he felt her lips kissing his forehead.

For a minute he wondered why the lights were so bright in his quarters, he could barely keep his eyes opened they shined so brightly. But then…this wasn't his bed, he realised that after a few seconds.

"What…" Roy was surprised by how dry his mouth felt, licking his lips didn't do anything. "What happened…where I am?"

"In the hospital," Rick told him, "don't you remember what happened?"

Roy tried to think, but he felt too groggy to really put much effort into it. Nonetheless he did try and jog his memory. _There was a coconut...Claudia's favourite…_

"It's all right, Roy," he heard Claudia say and with effort managed to look over at her. "Don't wear yourself out."

Roy gave her a weak smile. "Well, I guess it finally happened then," he said, almost to himself.

He noticed that Rick and Claudia looked at each other.

"Uh, **what** happened?" Rick asked.

Roy was confused by **their** confusion. "I got shot down, I mean, why else would I be here?"

"No, it was nothing like that," Claudia told him.

"What did I do then?" Roy rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't tell me it was something utterly humiliating, like falling down stairs or something?"

"You were attacked," Rick blurted.

With effort Roy turned to look at his Little Brother. "Attacked? By who?"

"You really don't remember?" Rick asked again.

Roy's head ached with the effort, but slowly flashes of memory came back…a woman, a knife, blood…

"That woman, she said she was…she was a Zentraedi," he looked up at Rick, waiting for him to shake his head and say that was all a crazy dream.

"A Zentraedi," Roy repeated, looking over at Claudia. "A female one, why the Hell is she here?"

Rick shook his head. "No-one knows…but she almost killed you," his eyes narrowed. "Crazy bitch."

Roy had to agree with that assessment, but before he could reply, the door opened and a doctor came in.

"Dr. Hassen," Roy greeted him as soon as he came into his line of sight, he was relieved to see the guy, after all Hassen had been the ship's surgeon years and years ago, in the Global War. He was the one who had reported so many deaths to Roy, for him to write the condolence letters. Hassen had always broken the news as carefully as he could, which Roy certainly appreciated.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with your memory at least," the doctor smiled. "So what exactly went on in that fight?"

Roy shook his head. "Honestly, I have no idea why she singled **me** out, it's not like there's a shortage of soldiers in this ship."

"Doubtless it has something to do with your position of Skull Leader, if I was asked to guess," Dr. Hassen responded.

The statement triggered something in Roy's hazy memories. "You may have beat me in mecha, but not hand to hand," he muttered aloud.

"What?" Claudia asked.

"That's what she said to me," Roy told her, "it didn't make sense at the time…"

"So where's the alien now?" Rick suddenly demanded, his eyes still flashing with anger. "I wouldn't mind having a few words with her."

"She's currently in a secure ward," Dr. Hassen replied.

" **What**?!" Rick gaped at the doctor as if he was completely insane. "You mean she's **here**? You treated her?"

"Of course we did, we had no idea she was a Zentraedi when she came in, that aside she had some serious injuries of her own." Dr. Hassen's voice was calm.

"Well, good," Rick grunted.

Most of Roy agreed with Rick, after all, the woman had almost murdered him. But a small part of him had to wonder what the Zentraedi's story was, when had the two met in combat…

Then it hit him, that battle all those months ago, the one in which Kramer had died and he had almost met his maker as well.

Roy would have shaken his head in disbelief if had the strength to, but instead had to content himself with thinking. _Damn, those aliens are completely nuts…_


	26. Chapter 26

"_The female Zentraedi's physiology is extremely interesting. In all aspects they appear to be nearly identical to human females, right down to the reproductive organs. The reasoning for this in a society that is not only made up by clones, but practices segregation is mysterious indeed. I can only assume that whoever created the Zentraedi did not have the technology available to render them completely genderless, thus necessitating segregation in the first place." _Dr. Emil Lang, _The Robotech Journals_

_

* * *

  
_

The visions she saw were strange and disjointed, time seemed to have lost all meaning and she didn't understand what was happening and why.

Her body felt heavy, pressed down, but her visions seemed to indicate she was running, scrambling…

These visions, these strange visions they had only started when she had arrived on Zor's Fortress, when she had been forced to immerse herself in the micronian culture. Before that, resting was just that, without her mind being bombarded with images she couldn't understand.

Miriya struggled toward consciousness, and somehow managed to break through, her eyes opening.

And found herself somewhere she had never been before.

Ever since arriving on Zor's Fortress she had been sleeping wherever she could, Zentraedis did not need a comfortable bed or covers she certainly didn't want to draw attention to herself.

But now she was lying in one of the micronian beds, which was extremely comfortable, in fact it made her quite reluctant to move, to get up.

_Another clever ploy,_ she thought, trying to stir up disgust at the situation.

Her head throbbed and she went to raise her arm to check for any serious damage, but found she couldn't…there was a strange device, a tube that terminated with a thin silvery object that was actually **embedded** in the back of her hand. Strangely though, it was not painful, but the reason for it she could not begin to imagine and it made her very uneasy, but she did not feel game to try and pull the silver object out.

Besides she felt extremely weak, just turning her head to look at her arm almost made her eyes flutter shut again.

_No! I must stay alert, I must survive, _Miriya told herself, wherever she was she had a feeling that she was in the hands of the micronians, that her identity had been uncovered.

The memories came back to her in quick succession…her defeat in the arcade against the blue haired micronian, her fury, the encounter with the 'Skull Leader' the one who had bested her all those Lon ago. The fight that neither could win and finally…

"He came back," she murmured to herself, "the blue haired one…"

Remembering it brought back those strange feelings that had so overwhelmed her, why did the micronian make her feel so?

She shook the thoughts away, they were not important; the important thing was to somehow, someway escape from here.

But that was going to prove difficult, when she attempted to sit up right and couldn't even manage that without a wave of dizziness overcoming her.

"Uugh," Miriya moaned, a flood of relief coming over her as her head rested back on the pillow.

_This is pathetic_, she told herself, _I am the ace warrior of the Quadronos, I cannot allow myself to be defeated like this._

With incredible effort, she managed to sit up, aided by the bed head.

It took a good two minutes for her surroundings to stop spinning, but eventually they did and she was able to swing her legs over the side of the bed, her bare feet touching the cool tiles of the floor.

Miriya looked down at that strange silver object and tube in her hand; obviously she couldn't leave this room if she was still hooked up to **that**. But did she dare pull it out, what if it was some sort of alarm system, or a weapon…?

As it turned out she didn't get a chance to find out what would happen because at that moment the door swung open and a micronian male stepped in.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" The micronian asked, but his tone of voice was far from threatening.

Miriya was still stunned and felt a spasm of fear despite this, after all, who knew what these micronians were really planning?

"You're in no shape to be up and about," the micronian continued walking over to the bed and laying a hand on her shoulder.

On the inside, Miriya recoiled, but she was in no state to attack the male, so allowed herself to be settled back into the bed.

"It's good that you're awake though," the male continued going to the end of the bed and picking up a folder. "Obviously the skull fracture isn't too serious after all."

Miriya had no idea what he was talking about, but an answer didn't seem to be required.

"I'm Dr. Hassen," the male looked up at her over the folder. "I take care of the health of the people aboard this ship, from what I've heard I don't imagine the Zentraedi have positions such as mine aboard their vessels."

Miriya looked at him blankly, trying to take in what he was saying… 'doctor' …'health'…They were words that did not really have a translation in Zentraedi, but as far as she could figure, she was speaking to a micronian of some high standing in the non-military work that most of them engaged in and his work was to ensure the continued functioning of other micronians.

The idea was completely foreign to Zentraedi, when they became injured in battle or mysteriously ill from other causes, which happened rarely, they were left to either live or die. No help was given from any quarter, but it appeared that the micronians had an entire tier of workers dedicated to keeping even the most hopeless cases going.

_It's a wonder the race has continued __**this**__ long, _Miriya thought, more confused than disgusted at this point. _They spend so much time wondering and worrying about the wellbeing of the others…How have they survived against us for so long…?_

"Rest assured," the male continued, "you'll be kept here until you recover from your injury, but I can't promise you'll be completely undisturbed, the military has some very important questions for you."

Miriya started, she had somehow forgotten that she was still a prisoner and she had no idea how the micronians would treat her. They seemed weak, over-eager to help, but then they would come out with displays of violence that almost went beyond Zentraedi notions of the term.

"Not today, of course," the 'doctor' seemed eager to put her at ease, obviously he was one of the former group. "But I doubt they will want to leave it too long." He gave her a curious look. "Do you have anything to say? Any requests?"

Miriya shook her head; she certainly wanted no help, especially since she was in such a vulnerable situation, who knew what this male would want in return.

"All right then," the 'doctor' seemed somewhat unconvinced. "Breakfast will be served in about hour, eat what you can."

And with that he left, and Miriya was left alone again, her instincts to escape began to sound again, but for once she ignored them.

She was just too tired to run.

* * *

"Hey, Big Brother, how does it feel to have the shoe on the other foot?"

Roy had been half asleep when the loud voice startled him.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you hospital etiquette?" He groaned.

"Sure, from the same person who taught **you**," Rick said with a wink coming to the side of the bed and flopping down in a chair. He held a box in his hand, which he jiggled at him.

"Ooh, you've brought me a gift, so thoughtful!" Roy made a show of swooning over the present.

"If you're gonna be like that, forget it," Rick made to put the gift behind his back.

"Hey!" Roy started to reach out to grab it, but winced. "Owww!"

Rick snickered. "Guess I'm not the only one who does dumb shit, huh?"

"Give me a break, I almost bled to death," Roy shot back.

Rick's face took on a sombre look and he shook his head. "I don't even wanna think about, Big Brother." In an attempt to lighten the mood he tossed the present onto the bed next to Roy. "Come on, open the gift, you'll like it."

"Hey, you don't have to tell me twice," he said with a wink, picking up the gift and ripping the wrapping paper. "You even got it wrapped, I'm proud of you."

The paper off Roy's eyes widened. "Wow…Rick…seriously; you shouldn't have done this…"

"It was nothing."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure they sell these everywhere," Roy shook his head, "I mean…geeze, this must have set you back something big."

"You know, it's impolite to ask how much a present costs," Rick replied, a faint blush on his cheeks.

"I was beginning to wonder why you were my best friend," Roy gave Rick a grin; "you've just reminded me."

"So, that's all I'm good for?"

"Hey this is something that's hard to top, I mean…man an original Fokker Spin, this is the first plane he ever made…"

"Yeah, I know."

"Damn…"

"Hmmm, well it looks like this visit was a waste of time," a new voice remarked.

Rick and Roy turned to see Claudia in the doorway, arms folded.

"Please, babe, you should know nothing's a waste when **you're** behind it."

Claudia laughed and hurried over to embrace him.

"Watch the shou-" Roy began, but was cut off by her lips and forgot all about it.

After a few seconds there was the sound of someone clearing their throat. "Ah, guys, I'm still here…"

Roy and Claudia broke apart and laughed.

"Jealous?" Claudia winked at him.

Rick's look only became sourer.

"**Everyone's **jealous of you," Roy grinned at his wife, "after all you landed me."

Claudia rolled her eyes. "Oh, happy day."

"We should be nice to Rick here," he told her, "I mean look at this."

He showed the plane to Claudia, who quite obviously didn't really get the importance and rarity of it.

"Women," Roy shook his head at Rick, getting a grin out of his Little Brother.

At that moment another person appeared in the doorway.

"Well, it's good to see some cheer in this place," Dr. Hassen declared, "usually the food is enough to depress anyone."

"Finally, someone's honest about it," Roy declared in relief.

"You got my complaint then?" Rick asked the doctor half-seriously.

Dr. Hassen headed over to the end of the bed to check the patient chart.

"Well, you're recovering well, and there shouldn't be any long-term damage to your shoulder."

The three breathed a sigh of relief.

"Your opponent will also recover completely," Dr. Hassen added, almost off-headedly.

"I suppose you can't get everything you wish for," Rick grunted, clenching his fists in his lap.

"Did she shed anymore light on why she attacked me?" Roy asked, doing his best to keep his anger down.

"She had nothing to say," Dr. Hassen replied, "although she did appear to be trying to escape when I saw her."

Rick leapt to his feet. "Well I hope you've got her locked up then!"

Dr. Hassen looked at him in surprise. "Of course not, she's a patient here, not a prisoner."

"Hmpf, I can appreciate innocent until proven guilty, doctor," Claudia spoke up. "But I think it's rather obvious what she was trying to do."

Dr. Hassen nodded. "That may be so, but seeing as she's an alien we can hardly hold her to the same standards. Beyond that, while she will recover she's in no state to attempt an escape." He assured them.

"When will she be questioned?" Rick wanted to know, crossing his arms.

"I'd give her at least another day or two to recover," Dr. Hassen said returning the chart to its holder. "With any luck, Commander, you'll be out of here by then."

"Not a moment too soon," Roy breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief and took Claudia's hand. "After all, you can't bear to be without me, can you, babe?"

"Oh sure…not having to put the toilet seat down, not getting kicked in bed…not having that is just pure torture to me," Claudia drawled.

Dr. Hassen smiled. "Well, keep up the good humour, sometimes I think it's the best medicine there is."

* * *

Minmei was in hiding.

After Kyle's shocking announcement the day before her head had been in a spin.

Not wanting to see her cousin, Minmei had retreated to Aunt Lena and Uncle Max's house, ironically the place Kyle would least likely want to be.

Her Aunt and Uncle had been happy to se her, ushering her into the restaurant and up the stairs to her old room, which was just as she had left it all those months ago.

Now, she lay on her bed with a set of earphones to block out the outside world, listening to the songs of **her** idols.

She was thoroughly confused by the entire mess, had it really only been a week ago that Kyle had kissed her, without warning and seemingly out of nowhere?

Now, he claimed that he had thought for a long time about how to propose to her and just what to say, the whole thing was crazy!

Aunt Lena and Uncle Max had made no mention of the interview, a fact for which Minmei was grateful for. She **really** didn't feel like going over it all...

It was times like this that Minmei desperately wished she was a normal teenager, sometimes she forgot she even was in her teens.

Getting up suddenly, she went over to her desk, where prior to the Miss Macross Competition she had done her homework.

Opening the top drawer, she took out her binder and pencil tin; both were pink with bunny rabbits on them.

_Do __**these**__ look like something a girl who's ready to be married would own?_ She asked herself, a wry smile on her lips.

The answer, of course, was no, so where had Kyle got the idea that he could propose to her?

Shaking her head Minmei opened the pencil tin and sitting on top of the pens, highlighters and pencils was a compass.

Minmei sighed; suddenly remember that time in the wake of the SDF-1's misfold and the first alien attack. She and Rick trapped in the bowels of the ship, facing certain death.

Of course, it hadn't seemed that way at first, there had been a lot of chatting and laughing and one of the first jokes had been about compasses.

"_But I though a compass had two arms that go back and forth like this." _She remembered saying, demonstrating with her index fingers.

She gave a small laugh thinking of it now, but it ended in yet another sight and she shook her head, as if it would clear away the memories.

She didn't want to think of those times because the truth was they were truly happy memories, much happier than the events of now.

But how could that be? She was living her dream…

And if it was really so, what did that mean?

* * *

Lisa had not been looking forward to these summons, in fact, she had hoped if she antagonised her father enough, she might be ordered back to the SDF-1 before it could occur.

No luck there, so far in the past week she had written three short, cold letters to her father, who had not even answered **one** of them.

And when the orders finally **did** arrive, they were to tell her the Council itself wanted to debrief her at eleven hundred hours.

So, with brief case clutched tightly in hand she made her way to the elevator, keeping her eyes straight ahead, not meeting the looks of anyone and there were a number of people in the corridors today. Lisa had made a point of not straying far from her room in the day time, so had generally walked the corridors alone.

Not now though, it was actually a relief to board the empty elevator for the rid down to the chambers the Council had ordered her to report to.

As she descended, Lisa thought of the SDF-1, wondering what was happening there.

Considering that the SDF-1 had kept Macross Island time they were an hour behind Alaska, so the corridors of that ship were probably just as busy albeit with friendly faces.

She thought of Rick and Claudia, both of whom she missed for very different reasons.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened onto an empty corridor. Taking a deep breath, Lisa got to her feet and strode down the corridor to Chambers One, arriving at the vast double doors at ten minutes to eleven hundred.

She saluted to a surveillance camera next to the door. "Commander Lisa Hayes, First Officer of the SDF-1 reporting for debriefing."

The only answer she received was the enormous doors swinging open to admit her.

As she stepped through she noticed a semi-circular table spanning the room, facing a much smaller table in the centre.

_Well, looks as if they're going to deign to meet me face-to-face this time,_ she thought coolly, trying to keep the edge off her fear.

The doors swung shut behind her, and she heard a distinct click as they locked, almost making her jump.

_Steady, Lisa, steady_, she commanded herself, taking a deep breath.

When she was sure her legs wouldn't shake she strode across the room to the table and placed her briefcase on top of it, before pulling out the chair and sitting primly and ramrod straight waiting for the debriefing, or interrogation more likely, to begin.

She did not have to wait long, obviously word had gone out she had arrived and not two minutes after sitting down, the side doors of the cavernous room opened and two lines of distinguished military gentlemen entered, Lisa quickly got to her feet as they each took a seat around that huge table, Commander-in-Chief Huxley at the centre and her father, Admiral Hayes on his immediate left.

Lisa did not allow her gaze to linger on her father for long, even though his was the only familiar face, instead rendering a salute she looked at each man in turn, her gaze unwavering so they did not think she was intimidated.

"At ease, Commander Hayes," Huxley began in a gravelly voice, Lisa dropped her salute. "We welcome you to the United Earth Council Headquarters once again and we were relieved to hear of your safe arrival despite an attack been launched on your shuttle."

Lisa didn't believe that, it had taken them a good long week to get around to saying that after all, but she did not let her scepticism show, instead replying. "Thank you, sir."

"Now, Admiral Hayes has all ready presented the report on the aliens, which we found…" Huxley trailed off, seemingly at a loss, "**interesting** to say the least."

"It is, sir," she murmured in agreement, which got her a few raised eyebrows.

"But we have called you here today for a very different reason," Huxley continued, straightening his shoulders. "As First Officer you have had a number of strategic meetings with Captain Gloval, I assume?"

"Yes, sir," Lisa's voice was calm, but her mind raced on ahead wondering what sort of questions she would be facing.

"Commander, I now ask you to make a solemn oath, that you will speak only the truth at this debriefing, directly and with no evasion," Huxley looked at her squarely. "If we discover you have done so, you will be charged with treason and perjury, am I clear?"

Lisa clasped her hands tightly in front of her to stop them from shaking. "I swear I will only speak the truth here," she replied, surprised that her voice came out so clear and strong.

"Very well, then, now, tell us, if Gloval has any…**clear** strategy against the aliens."

Lisa bristled slightly at his tone, which struck her as condescending.

"I'm afraid I didn't have much time to discuss strategy with Captain Gloval after the group of aliens defected to the SDF-1, I imagine after that event, though, the overall strategy would have changed."

A few of the Military Heads looked at each other with sneers on their faces.

"Yes, we heard about the defection," Huxley grumbled, "and subsequent granting of asylum. I imagine you could **guess** Captain Gloval new strategy, couldn't you, Commander?"

Lisa liked the undercurrent of that question even less, but she was an officer through and through and had made an oath.

"I believe the new strategy is to sue for peace, sir, I thought that plan had all ready been brought to your attention by Admiral Hayes."

There was a chorus of mutterings and sounds of disbelief at her statement.

"Order, order, please," Huxley commanded in annoyance, once the group settled he threw a look at Lisa's father. "Yes, Commander, Admiral Hayes **did** alert us to such a fact. But one cannot simply have a plan to sue for peace and nothing else, what **other **strategy has Gloval planned," he pressed.

Lisa shook her head. "I have no idea of that, sir, but…" she took the plunge, "he would certainly not approve of the use of the Grand Cannon."

This time shouts erupted from the Council and Lisa saw her father's face go white.

"Order! Order, now!" Huxley roared, giving the table a loud strike with his fist.

Once the noise level had died down, he turned to Lisa. "I hardly think you're in the position to make such a claim, Commander, and I suggest you watch what you say."

Lisa clenched her jaw and gave a small barely perceptible nod.

"I imagine then, from your comments that Gloval **has** no strategy, am I correct?"

"I would certainly not imagine that, sir, only that he didn't tell me of any," she responded, working hard to keep her tone even. "I was busy compiling the report."

"Very well then," Huxley nodded, the looked about at his fellow Councillors. "If any of you have any questions of Commander Hayes you are free to ask them now."

No sooner had he finished his sentence than General Herbert got to his feet.

"You seem to be of the belief that Captain Gloval would not approve of our plan to use the Grand Cannon, the premier defence system on Earth. Now, why would that be?" He glared at her.

"The aliens, the Zentraedi have weaponry and numbers beyond our worst nightmares," Lisa turned to look at the General squarely. "There are a million trailing the SDF-1 as we speak and that's only a fraction of their total fleet. No matter how big and powerful the Grand Cannon is designed to be, it would make only the smallest dent in their overall force."

It was clear from the grumbles that followed the Councillors did not believe her, or perhaps couldn't **bring** themselves to believe her.

"If you expect peace to be struck with these…creatures…without a proper show of force, you've obviously neglected your study of history, Commander," her father's eastern hemisphere counterpart sneered, looking down his nose at her.

"I am sure the Zentraedi will not be conversant in our history either, sir," the words slipped out as much to her surprise as to anyone else's.

"Commander Hayes," Huxley warned, frowning, "I suggest you watch your tone when speaking to superiors."

Lisa only nodded mutely, a small part of her ashamed to have spoken that way to an Admiral, but a larger part was thrilled to have spoken her mind.

_This must be how Rick and Fokker and all those pilots feel whenever they mouth-off,_ she realised.

"If I may speak, sirs," an unexpected voice spoke up then and Lisa turned in the direction of it, shocked to see Colonel T.R Edwards at the end of the left side of the table, it seemed he was the note taker of the debriefing-interrogation session.

Lisa did not know much personally about Edwards, a fact she was glad for, from what Claudia had told her (both from her own dealings with the man and Roy's) he was not to be trusted. It was certain knowledge (though there was no backing evidence) that Edwards had gone through the Global Civil War as a mercenary, selling his deadly skill to the highest bidder with no thought to the morals or lack thereof of the buyer.

As she met the man's cold dark eyes, Lisa **knew** she was not going to like what he said.

"Certainly, Colonel," Huxley gave a brisk nod, "the Council appreciates any input."

_Unless it conflicts with your aims, of course, _Lisa thought, cynically.

"Admiral Takasuno is quite correct, attempting to sue for peace without firepower to back it up is a risky strategy, **unless** there is a plan to exchange something," Edwards began, his eyes glinting coldly.

Lisa furrowed her eyebrows, trying to see where he could be going with this.

"Is it possible, Commander, that Gloval, angered by the UEC's unavoidable order to the SDF-1 to depart the Earth, would be willing to…" he voice trailed off, and for the briefest moment Lisa was sure the was a mocking smile on his face, "trade **our** lives for **his**?"


	27. Chapter 27

"_Dear Father, Assigned to the SDF-1! I'm so excited! Thank you so much, I know you recommended me for it. I know you don't say it, but then I don't say it either, but I love you and I'm proud to be your daughter…"_ Excerpt from a letter dated July 2nd 2005 from Lisa Hayes to her father

* * *

Captain Gloval put his pipe between his teeth. "I respect your dedication to medical and personal ethics, Dr. Hassen," he spoke, putting his hands behind his back. "But the fact still remains that the female Zentraedi is an enemy and beyond that offers us a very important chance to discover exactly what drives the female section of the enemy fleet. We have never had, before now, contact with them; in fact we didn't even know they were part of the attack group until this one showed up."

"I appreciate that, Captain," Dr. Hassen responded, calmly, "the fact remains, however, that the woman sustained a serious blow to her head. Intense questioning could lead to complications."

Dr. Lang, who had been silent until now, stepped forward. "I vant to point out," he began, in his thickly accented English, "that this vill not be an interrogation. Ve vill not press her unduly for answers, ve merely vish to get a clear understanding of the female Zentraedi and how they operate."

Dr. Hassen met Dr. Lang's eyes briefly before looking away; the whiteless eyes of the Robotech scientist were unsettling to say the least.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose if that is all you plan-"

"Certainly," Lang interjected, "in fact just to make sure I invite you to stay during the interview. If you have any vorries just give the vord and I vill desist."

It all seemed very reasonable and Hassen could think of no other objections, so finally he nodded.

"All right then, come by this evening, around seven, I've found that's when most head-injury patients are at their most alert."

"You vill not regret this," Lang assured him with a smile.

Gloval meanwhile, removed the unlit pipe from between his teeth and merely said. "Thank you."

* * *

Max paced his quarters, deep in though, he had changed out of the clothes he'd worn for the date, had in fact thrown them out, seeing as they had been stained with dirt, grime and Commander Fokker's blood. He had not slept a wink however.

All he could think of was Miriya, her long green hair, her eyes determined as they played against each other at _Veritechs!_

Then he saw her face twisted in hate, a knife held tightly in her fist, poised to kill.

And finally, he saw her eyes filled with tears, her cheeks becoming pale, her form crumbling to the pavement in a faint.

She had tried to kill someone, that wasn't in doubt, but then hadn't Max not only tried, but succeeded in killing large numbers of Zentraedi? Perhaps not when they were utterly unprepared as Fokker had been, but in the end wasn't that just semantics?

He desperately hoped so, because he found it impossible to hate or even fear her. She did not seem alien to him, he was sure that if he could just see her, if he could just talk to her…

He shook his head that was certainly out of the question. Max may be forgiving, but the Brass sure weren't. They considered Miriya an enemy combatant, highly dangerous and no doubt to be kept behind locked doors and Max was certainly in no position to be part of an interrogation or debriefing team.

The whole thing was driving him crazy.

"Fine mess you've got yourself into, Sterling," he muttered aloud to the empty room. "And you used to tease Ben for getting into crazy situations."

It was true; Ben had never ceased to amaze Max with his ability to get into the most bizarre situations. Dating an alien probably would have been right up Ben's alley, but sadly, Max didn't have him around to offer his crazy advice.

In the cacophony of battles and events the past few months had left Max little time to himself, let alone time to think of Ben, but now the loss of his best friend hit him once again. He still had to remind himself that he wasn't going to one day come back to base to find Ben waiting outside his quarters ready to drag him to a steakhouse…

Max was also reminded that he hadn't seen Mr. and Mrs. Dixon since that day Macross City had discovered that there were going to be twenty-three aliens living in their midst. He wondered how Ben's parents would feel if Max told him he was in love with a Zentraedi.

And it was back to Miriya again!

He needed to do something; anything or he might just go mad.

_A run_, he decided, hurrying to get the RDF issued sweats from his wardrobe. _Exercise clears the mind._

And that's just what his mind needed right now.

* * *

The blood drained from Lisa's cheeks and for a moment she thought she'd faint, there was a faint buzzing in her ears, but she couldn't tell if it was from shock or from the Councillors.

She saw her father's stunned look, but she was already turning about to face Colonel Edwards head on.

"Just **what** are you suggesting, Colonel," she began, her voice loud in her ears, "that Captain Gloval would betray the Earth? That's strong talk coming from someone with a war record like **yours**!"

This time she knew the buzzing was not in her ears, Colonel Edwards cocked an eyebrow at her, the look on his face indicating he was enjoying this. "Why, whatever do you mean, Commander Hayes?" He asked, smoothly. "My record is pristine; I've been a loyal member of the United Earth Defense Forces longer than you have."

There was sneering laughter and nasty glares shot in her direction, and her pale cheeks immediately flooded with colour.

"Commander Hayes," Huxley's impatient voice rose over the taunts, "would you please conduct yourself in a manner befitting an officer."

Lisa whirled to face the Commander-in-Chief. "You don't take his allegations **seriously**, do you?"

Huxley gave her an icy look. "It would not be the first time a once loyal member of the defence forces turned against us."

Lisa knew that all too well…the last time it had happened it had led to…She shook her head, she couldn't think about that now, instead she took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Sir," she addressed Huxley in a steady voice, "I have no doubt that Colonel Edwards means only to protect the UEDF from such an event occurring again," she didn't believe a word of it, but she hoped the Councillors didn't realise it. "But Captain Gloval would **never** do such a thing, there is no precedent on his record for such an action, unlike…"she trailed off, not wanting to speak the name.

At that moment, someone spoke, someone she hadn't expected.

"I agree with Commander Hayes's assessment," it was her father and he was looking at Edwards with a frown. "Captain Gloval has recently taken to behaviour that is at odds with ours, but at all times has been legal and with the aim of preserving life. I have no doubt he has no back-up fire power, no exchange in mind and hopes to simply win over the aliens with appeals to decency and our almost identical genetic structures. Foolhardy, most certainly, criminal, not."

The angry undercurrent of the Council seemed to dissipate at her father's remarks.

Lisa was stunned, she had been sure after the argument over the Grand Cannon and the letters her father would have no patience for her **or** the fate of the SDF-1.

_I've misjudged him yet again,_ she told herself, her heart softening and tears filling her eyes, which she blinked back. _Perhaps all is not lost._

_

* * *

  
_

Khyron was sitting in his command chair, drumming his fingers on one armrest in an extremely agitated manner.

He was still furious over the handling of the deserters and his mood had in no way improved in the wake of the defeat at destroying the micronian shuttle a little over two lon ago.

His only consolation was that that vile female Azonia had not yet appeared on the comm. screen to mock his failure He did not think he could take **that**.

As for the defectors, Khyron could not believe they had not been turned over to the general court to be judged and duly executed.

_If I didn't know better, I'd say Breetai is __**protecting**__ them. _Khyron was repelled by the thought.

But then, perhaps he **didn't** know, Breetai had become entirely unpredictable since his return from Dolza's Command Post. He was equipped with the 1st Imperial Fleet, but seemed incapable of using them; he hadn't even bothered to issue a command to the micronians to surrender!

There had been talk about this sort of thing, Khyron recalled, long ago before he had been given his command…a whispered, feared, loathed word. 'Contamination'.

It had been so taboo, Khyron wasn't even clear on what it meant, but from what he'd been able to figure out, a lack of willingness to fight was one symptom.

So now, he contemplated the possibility that the Great Breetai had fallen victim to this disease and if so, how to communicate this to Dolza with Breetai knowing.

He did not have too long to wonder about it, however, as a chime sounded indicating an incoming transmission.

Grel was not on the bridge, so one of the techs down below announced. "It is from Lady Azonia, should we accept it?"

Khyron gave an angry growl. "Of course we shall, idiot! I'm not afraid of a mere female!"

"Yes, my lord," the tech murmured quickly and hurried to patch the transmission through

"Lord Khyron," Azonia's smug face appeared on the drawn up screen. "How do you fair these past lon? I notice your thirst for combat against the micronians appears to have dulled, but whatever for?"

Khyron bared his teeth at her. "I would not gloat so, my lady," he snarled, "I don't see **you** attacking them either."

"I have never claimed I could defeat them with ease," Azonia returned, lifting her chin. "These micronians are more dangerous then they appear. I have realised this, but **you** in your infinite wisdom have not."

Khyron came to his feet, clenching his fists at his sides. "I do not require lectures on tactics from **you**; your failure to take back Zor's Fortress will follow you the rest of your nos."

"As will yours."

The two glared at each other with complete and utter hatred. Although it was strictly forbidden, Khyron was on the verge of declaring 'Kara Thun', a duel to the death, something no proper Zentraedi could refuse.

Before he had a chance to step over that line, Azonia's aide appeared. "M'lady we're receiving an urgent message from Lord Breetai."

"What?" Azonia seemed distracted, but then she tore her gaze from Khyron to her aide. "Oh, patch him through," she ordered, disappearing from Khyron's comm. screen.

Breathing hard, Khyron returned to his chair, his thoughts conflicted, one side of him never wanted to see a Zentraedi female again, the other had some strange longing to fight with Lady Azonia again.

And only with her.

* * *

Miriya was dozing when the door to the room opened, but she came awake immediately, cursing her lack of preparedness. _Am I losing __**all**__ my great warrior skills? _She berated herself.

The male doctor was back, but this time there was a second male with him, also in a long white coat.

Miriya was immediately struck by the second male's eyes, for some reason their total blackness sent a shudder through her.

"I apologise for waking you," the first one, Hassen spoke, "I assure you, Dr. Lang and I will not bother you too long," he indicated the second male, who held a clipboard.

He came forward and looked her over carefully.

"Miriya," he began, "I understand that is your name?"

She was immediately suspicious, but decided to allow the micronian's questions to continue for now, and she nodded.

"And vhat is your rank, your squadron?" The male's eerie eyes seemed to bore into hers and he had an odd accent, she had never heard the like from any other micronian she had encountered and she wondered what it signified.

She also debated whether to answer his question, and finally decided that seeing as she had told the 'Skull Leader' that information when she attacked him; there was no need for secrecy.

"I am Quadrono Battalion Leader, the most elite group of the Zentraedi Air Force."

The doctor, Lang, looked surprised, his black eyes widening. "So, the females of the Zentraedi are the superior fighters?" He said, almost as though to himself. "Interesting."

"Now, it is also my understanding that you came here to attack von particular pilot out of our forces. Vhy vas that so?"

Miriya bristled, that first defeat still haunted her, symbolising as it did her descent into successive defeats and now her capture aboard Zor's Fortress.

She did not want to tell this micronian her reasons, articulating them to one not involved would be the ultimate admittance of defeat. She turned her head and pressed her lips tightly together.

Out the corner of her eye she saw Lang looking at her curiously. "I hazard to guess that personal honour vas involved," he remarked.

Miriya was rattled, how could a non-combatant be so insightful and she couldn't help wondering if that insight had to do with those black eyes.

"The process of elimination suggesting that you and your Quadronos fly the super manoeuvrable power armour that ve last encountered on Earth. A deadly veapon, indeed." From his clipboard he picked up a piece of paper hand held it up to her. It showed an image, grainy, but unmistakably a Quaedluun-Rau.

Miriya turned back to Lang, her eyes narrowed as she wondered what kind of doctor he was, since unlike Hassen he had shown no interest in her physical condition.

"How many of these units do the Zentraedi possess?" Lang inquired.

_One less than they should, _Miriya thought thinking of hers.

"And only female Zentraedi pilot them?"

Miriya glared at him, so he was an interrogator and not a particularly threatening one at that. _Is this the best the micronian forces can do?_

"Hmmm," Lang looked over his shoulder at Hassen, who merely shrugged. "I know that Zentraedi haff knowledge of interrogations, after all some of your male counterparts interrogated three of **our** officers only a few months ago."

Miriya all ready knew this; the fact that the micronians had escaped Breetai's ship had been a source of snide remarks for the entire female Zentraedi fleet.

"You do not vish to speak to me then," Lang finally surmised, "you realise though, that you vill continue to be interrogated, vouldn't you prefer von that is a little less…aggressive?"

Miriya tossed her hair and gave Lang a defiant look.

"You micronians do not frighten **me**," she finally spoke in a haughty tone.

"Hmmm," was all Lang responded with, before turning to Hassen. "I can see that this is a useless endeavour, doctor, in that case I vill be off now." He looked over his shoulder at Miriya. "Rest assured somevon **vill** come to continue questioning you tomorrow."

With that he left with Dr. Hassen in tow.

_Plan what you will,_ Miriya thought, _by tomorrow I will no longer be here._

_

* * *

  
_

Rick and Claudia had stayed together after morning visiting hours ended at the hospital. Both had been given the day off and so wandered Macross City.

Claudia noticed that every time they passed a poster of Lynn Minmei, and there had to be one every few blocks, Rick would stare at it with a mixture of longing and self-pity.

She thought of Lisa, of whom there had been no word, except confirmation from Alaska Base that she had landed safely. _Rick Hunter, you don't know when you've got a good thing going,_ Claudia though, shaking her head.

"So," she began and Rick quickly turned from a poster to look at her. "I take it you saw the press conference two nights ago?" That made her think, had it really only been two nights ago? The wait in the Emergency Room for word of Roy had seemed like weeks to her.

Rick's shoulders slumped. "You bet," he mumbled, "I can't believe it, all this time and she was just waiting for Kyle to propose to her!"

"Hmm, well, I'm not sure **that's** the right interpretation, but she doesn't seem to be hanging out for you either," Claudia spoke, bluntly.

"Sometimes, I wonder what I did wrong," Rick said with a deep sigh.

"I don't think you did anything wrong," Claudia told them and came to a stop in front of a park bench. "Come on, let's sit here for a while," she indicated the bench.

"You know," Claudia eyed Rick's profile as he slumped down next to her, "I think you could live without Miss. Macross, she's not **that** terrific."

That got Rick's attention, he whirled to face her. "She is to **me**!"

Claudia shrugged. "OK, but you don't seem to be that special to **her**. Love at first sight is all well and good, but most of the time…well, it just doesn't happen that way."

Rick was looking at her with a frown on his face, obviously not getting the subtle hint she was giving him. _Ugh, men,_ she thought, suppressing an urge to roll her eyes. "It's just that from what Roy has told me you'd benefit from dating someone a little…**older**, a little bit **wiser**."

Rick was still looking at her with a completely blank look.

_Well, seems he's denser than __**most**__ in this department,_ Claudia decided, somewhere between amusement and irritation.

"Someone who's been through a big romance and a broken heart, who understands the world," she elaborated.

Rick was still completely confounded.

_And I thought __**Roy **__was a tough nut to crack!_

"Someone you've been friendly with, those relationships are always the best, and those people…well, they could be anywhere…your next door neighbour, a shop assistant or even…a commanding officer."

**Finally**, it dawned on Rick and his face seemed to drain of colour at the realisation.

"Claudia," he stammered, "you're…you're talking about **Lisa**, aren't you?"

From experience Claudia knew when to back off in these sorts of conversations. "Did you hear me mention anyone by that name?" She asked innocently, getting to her feet. "I've got some shopping to do now, I'm sure that's of no interest to **you**," she grinned at him, then gave him a wink. "Enjoy the rest of your day off, see ya around." And with a wave she hurried off, hopefully leaving young Rick Hunter with a **lot** to think about.

* * *

Lisa met her father that evening, the debriefing session had ended with no resolution reached and certainly no plans to change the decision to fire the Grand Cannon.

Lisa hoped however, at the very least, that no more speculation regarding Captain Gloval's loyalty would come up. Her blood still boiled at Edward's remarks, the sheer **nerve** of him and she was disgusted that all the Council members except her father seemed content to let it pass unchallenged.

Pausing outside her father's quarters, Lisa was suddenly ashamed at the letters she had written to her father. They seemed particularly ill-natured considering what he had done that day.

All the same the general **content** of the letters remained the same, Lisa desperately wanted to return to the SDF-1, her post and her crew and she **had** to make her father understand that.

Raising a closed fist, she rapped her knuckles on the door, seeing no camera to salute and identify herself to.

"Yes?" Came her father's voice.

"Commander Hayes reporting," she replied, but with none of the coldness she had used the past three days.

The door slid open, revealing her father looking haggard and Lisa could tell immediately that he had been smoking…a **lot**.

"Lisa, I'm so glad you came," his eyes seemed to shine with tears as he greeted her and she felt an overwhelming desire to hug him. But there were still soldiers and techs in the corridor and she didn't want to make a spectacle of herself.

Her father shook his head then, as though coming out of a trance. "Oh, come in, please," he stepped back to let her pass.

Her father's quarters were the largest Lisa had ever seen, though she was sure Huxley's were probably larger. _So, this is what been a Flag Officer is all about?_ She though as she looked about. _Opulence and more space than the 'little people'?_

She did not say anything aloud; instead she walked through the large living room area to a dining room where a table was set for two.

"I see the UEC gives you spacious appointments," she couldn't help, but remark.

Behind her, her father heaved a sigh. "You're no longer proud to be my daughter, are you?"

Lisa started, remembering those words, she had written them in a letter to her father long ago, a lifetime ago it seemed.

"I…" she began, then stopped at a loss for words, it was true and at the same time not. _I'm proud of all the times you've helped those under your command a way a good admiral should, but I'm not proud of the way you've acted since been named on the Council._ She wanted to say that, but couldn't bring herself to.

"Thank you for speaking up for Captain Gloval," she said instead, turning to face him.

Her father seemed unable to meet her eyes. "I only told the truth, that's all I've ever meant to do."

Lisa nodded, saddened that there was nothing else, like maybe he regretted the way he'd treated his old friend.

"But, please, sit down, I'll get the food," her father changed the subject abruptly.

"No, I'll help," Lisa insisted, and despite the awkwardness followed her father to the kitchen (which was about the size of a non-commanding officers quarters) where a roast was being kept warm in the oven along with a bowl of vegetables.

The aroma was delicious; the mess on the base certainly didn't serve meals like this. _More barriers between those on top and the rest of us,_ Lisa thought, recalling that everyone ate the same food on the SDF-1.

Once the food was on the table, her father began serving and Lisa noticed that it was her favourite style of roast with her favourite vegetables, corn, carrots and snow peas. She allowed herself a small smile. "Thank you, Father," she said as he sat at the head of the table.

"It was nothing," he mumbled more to his plate then to her.

The roast, honey lamb tasted as delicious as it smelt and Lisa took a moment to savour it before plunging into more difficult matters.

"Father, you received my requests these past few days, I'm sure," she blushed. "I apologise for them."

"No," her father replied, shaking his head. "I understand how you felt."

Lisa felt a spark of worry at his use of the past tense, it was clear he was not going to like what she had to say next.

"So, I ask now, that I'd be reassigned to my post aboard the SDF-1 as soon as possible."

She expected it, but her heart still wrenched at the look on her father's face.

"Lisa-" he began, but she cut him off.

"It's not personal, Father, you must know that," she tried to meet his eyes, but he kept avoiding hers. "But I have served on the SDF-1 for more than five years now, it's where I belong."

Her father picked up his wine glass, but made no move to drink from it. "I understand that another officer has all ready taken on your position," he finally remarked.

Lisa's cheeks burned. "Lt. Porter is a capable officer, Father, but she doesn't have my knowledge or experience. If you **don't** believe the aliens can be talked into peace without a show of force, then surely you agree that I need to go back there."

Her father set down his glass, his hand seemed to be shaking. "Lisa, you must realise that the SDF-1 cannot survive long, God knows how it survived **this** long, sending you back would be tantamount to a death sentence."

"But you don't mind imposing one on all the people still aboard? The **civilians** you refused refuge?" Lisa demanded, anger rising. "I never thought you'd stoop so low."

Her father flinched as if she had struck him, then got to his feet and turned his back on her. "Lisa, do you remember when you were twelve? Before you went to boarding school?"

Surprised by the sudden change in the topic, Lisa could only stammer. "O-of course I do." And she did, the pain of been sent away from home, from everything she knew…

"Before you left, we argued and you asked me what sort of father, I was, to send you away like a stranger," her father still had his back to her, "and I told you a father who knows what's best for his child."

Lisa swallowed back tears, reminders of that fight still hurt.

"I was wrong," her father suddenly turned to face her, "I never should have done it, I regretted it every day until you graduated to High School and came home."

Lisa looked at him, grateful to hear that after all these years, but still not understanding how it fit in with her wanting to go back to her crew.

"Yet, tonight you ask me to do the same thing, send you away as if you aren't my child, the only family I have left."

The irony struck Lisa at that moment that **was** what she was asking; she could just imagine the stunned look her twelve year old self would give her if she stumbled upon this scene.

She closed her eyes. "There's a difference though," she said, "this time I'm only asking that you treat me as an Admiral **would** treat an officer. If I weren't your daughter, what would be your next move?" Opening her eyes she looked right into her father's eyes, wondering and fearing his answer.


	28. Chapter 28

"_There are some people out there you'll just never understand…and thank God for that."_ Quote from an unknown psychiatrist

* * *

Sitting in his command chair, his cap pulled low over his eyes, Captain Gloval contemplated the situation.

Lang had returned with the news that the female Zentraedi showed no desire to talk, the alien armada remained poised to attack and there had been no word from Lisa.

Peeking out from under his cap, Gloval watched Sammie who was running diagnostics in the downtime. Since the small mistake with the code books she had been hard at work learning everything she could so as to avoid another such error.

Gloval appreciated Sammie's dedication, but still wondered at his own decision to allow Lisa off the ship in the first place.

_She seemed so certain that with our reports the _UEG_ would see sense that she convinced me, too, but were we wrong?_

It seemed so and now he had lost the best officer he'd ever know. If the Zentraedi attacked now, who knew what the outcome would be.

Pushing his cap back above his brows he turned towards Vanessa. "Any sign of activity from the alien fleet?" He asked for about the dozenth time.

Vanessa made a few inputs then shook her head. "No, sir, none at all."

"Hmmm…" Gloval stroked his moustache thoughtfully. "What could they be planning?"

There was no answer and he smothered a sigh, that was exactly the sort of question Lisa would have responded to and with a good idea at that.

Looking down at the yellow inter-ship phone that was bolted to the side of his chair. Gloval sincerely wished that it would ring and bring news of his first officer.

* * *

Max had spent most of his time off-duty running, trying to clear from his mind the whirlwind of thoughts about Miriya.

The previous evening he had stopped by to see Mr. and Mrs. Dixon in what had been an uncomfortable meeting, although Ben's parents probably hadn't realised it.

It certainly had been for Max, listening as Mr. Dixon muttered angrily about the alien defectors.

"Thank God, they're all in the same place," he had remarked, "it's just too bad they're allowed outta there! They should be prisoners!"

Mrs. Dixon hadn't really said anything, but Max was pretty sure she agreed with her husband.

Max had steered the subject away from the Zentraedi and onto Ben, making Mr. Dixon laugh and Mrs. Dixon with stories of their son's wackiness, optimism and good nature.

But Max didn't think he'd been in such a hurry to see them again as he had previously.

As he headed for the barracks, wondering which route to run this time he nearly collided with Rick.

"Sorry, Boss!"

"Hey, it was my fault," Rick shrugged good naturedly.

"How is Commander Fokker?" Max thought to ask straight out.

"You know Roy," Rick rolled his eyes, but Max good tell he was relieved. "He's getting discharged this afternoon if all goes well. Too bad, I'll be on duty; they've been making me pull double time."

"Maybe I should go see him," Max murmured thinking more of the fact that Miriya was at the hospital.

"You should," Rick told him, "he hasn't had a chance to thank you for saving his life."

Max blushed and pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Oh, I…uh…"

"Don't be so modest," Rick gave him a friendly clap on the back, "and when you see him, tell him I said to stop loafing around."

Max nodded and watched Rick hurry off.

Sticking his hands in his pockets, he continued on, past the barracks and into the streets of Macross City.

* * *

The time had come at last, the mil passing interminably in the meantime.

There was benefits to that, as Miriya had spent that time plotting her escaping, listening and watching carefully how often the 'doctors' and 'nurses' in this building stopped by to check on her, when meals were served and more importantly how much time she had between each.

Now as the simulated 'sky' aboard Zor's Fortress began to darken, it was time for her to make her move.

First thing was clothing; the brown jumpsuit she had been wearing when she attacked the 'Skull Leader' was gone, replaced with a rather flimsy light blue smock. No doubt to make her stand out, but Miriya had confidence that she would be able to keep a low profile until she found something else to wear.

Of course, her green hair was a give away at least to the 'doctors' who had tended to her, but that had been easy enough to overcome. She had noticed various female micronians covering their hair with material, effectively slacking it. The reasoning for this was no doubt something very obscure and nonsensical, but she didn't really care right now.

So she had torn a wide strip of fabric from the bed's undersheet and now she placed it over her long hair.

Fortunately, the strange silver object with the tube running from it had been removed from her hand, so she did not have to worry about the consequences of pulling it out.

She was ready.

Swiftly, after checking the corridor beyond her room was clear, Miriya walked down it towards a food she had seen may 'nurse' enter in normal micronian outfits only to come out in a standard white and pink uniform.

Entering the room, she found row after row of cabinets, toilets and showers, but there were no clothes that she could see.

Her heart was hammering and she wondered…feared that the micronians had outsmarted her all ready. At that moment she heard voices and quickly retreated into one of the shower rooms, the door swinging shut behind her. She noticed, though, that the door did not go all the way to the floor, so her legs were visible, fortunately there was a ledge attached to the wall and Miriya clambered onto it, peeking through a crack between the door and the jam as three female micronians entered.

"Ugh, back to the old grindstone," one was sighing.

"Just once I'd like a whole day where every patient thanked me," another said, walking to on of the cabinets and fiddling with the knob of it.

"Well, we didn't take this job for our health," the third one remarked with a laugh, "we did it for **theirs** am I right?"

The other two burst into laughter as well and the one at the cabinet pulled open its door to reveal a uniform inside.

Miriya watched as the other two females followed suit and the three undressed, placed their normal clothing in the cabinets, redressed in the uniforms and closed the cabinets talking and laughing the whole time.

Miriya smiled and once the room was clear hurried out of the shower stall to the cabinet of one of the women who seemed to be about her size.

However, the micronians' cleverness reared its head again, tugging on the knob of the cabinet door, Miriya discovered it would not open. She tried to copy the manner of fiddling that the micronian had used, but that seemed to do nothing.

_Damn these micronians!_ Miriya cursed, pounding her palm against the door in vain. _They may not know space war, but they know spy tactics well enough._

Perhaps this called for a change of strategy; after all, she had never planned to just stroll out the front door of this building, so clothing was probably not a necessity. Swiftness was, though, so wasting no more time, Miriya hurried from the room and continued down the corridors, dodging into rooms and recesses every so often in case a micronian unexpectedly appeared.

There were a number of ways out of the building, besides the main doors, these were called 'Fire Doors', a clever ruse since no fire lay beyond them, however Miriya did need to find one in a quiet area, lest she risk running into someone.

Eventually she came to a section of the floor that had only empty rooms. _Perfect, _she thought and hurried to the end of the corridor to a 'Fire Door', which she pushed open.

The stairwell was cool and quiet and Miriya began to descend. However, her luck did not hold, she had gone down only two flights when she heard the unmistakable sound of whistling, an odd noise made by micronians, particularly during quite moments. Odd behaviour in the extreme since it all but ruined any chance of a sneak attack, once again there was no reason to micronian activities.

Now she had to choose, take on the micronian or flee the stairway.

The latter was against her warrior instincts, but she realised she was still weak in the wake of her battle with the 'Skull Leader', so suppressing that fighting urge, she swiftly turned and pushed through a door back into the corridors of one of the floors, she did not note which.

It didn't take her long to realise though, it was a lot busier than the floor she had been on, immediately a micronian came into view and Miriya barely managed to duck out of sight.

Miriya found herself in a deserted room with a large piece of micronian medical equipment in it, there was nothing comparable to it in the Zentraedi fleet and Miriya worried for a moment if the machine was on and if so what was its function and what it could do to her.

Shaking her head, Miriya brought her mind back to the problem at hand. Her plan of escape was not going well; she had to get out of this place before she was discovered. Who knew what the micronians would do with unco-operative spies, knowing their unpredictability she did not imagine it would be anything good.

Peeking out the door, she saw the corridor was clear and she decided the best idea was to brave the stairwell again, it was likely the whistling micronian was no longer there.

Her instinct was right and she continued her descent.

Soon she would get out of here, and she would be able to alert Seloy to pick her up from Zor's Fortress. She no longer cared about her mission to kill the 'Skull Leader'…

Not that was not actually true, she **did** care, but Miriya had come to accept what had been unconceivable before.

That her life was more important to her than been undefeated. Her previous declarations that she would sooner die than allow the one who had defeated her to go on living had fallen by the wayside.

She would return to her Quadronos and continue being their leader, the most elite of the Zentraedi Air Force.

The outcomes of her battle with the 'Skull Leader' seemed to have more to do with luck than skill and that being the case, she contented herself with the thought that next time they met in mecha **she** would be complete victor.

* * *

Both Rick and Claudia were on duty, so Roy was on his own with the getting himself discharged.

His shoulder still hurt like Hell, if he moved it too fast and it felt uncomfortably numb the rest of the time, but being at home with Claudia would be a lot better than hanging in this overly white room. It was beginning to make him feel claustrophobic.

He made one last check of the room to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything, though he had the feeling he was. As he was checking under the bed for the second time he heard someone come into room.

"Uh, Commander…?"

Roy straightened up so fast he hit the back of his head on the bed frame.

"Hey, Sterling," he greeted the Lieutenant who nervously hung in the doorway. "Come in, you're the guy who saved my life."

Max gave a nervous smile. "Well…uh…"

"You're a modest one," Roy shook his head, "didn't you read the manual before you joined up?"

Max looked slightly confused.

"I mean it though, you really saved my life," he repeated.

"Well…"

Roy wondered if he should ask Max if there was anything bothering him. If it was Rick he would have asked the second his Little Brother walked in, but Max was a different story, he hardly knew the guy.

"That aside you're also the only one to front up here," Roy decided not to ask. "Since I'm still an invalid and a superior officer I can order you to carry my suitcase."

Max looked startled. "Oh, uh…I can carry it if you want; I mean you don't have to order me…" He hurried towards the suitcase.

"Hey, I was joking," Roy laughed and shook his head. Max Sterling was definitely a weird one, finally he couldn't help it, tact had never been a talent of his anyway. "Is something bothering you, Sterling?"

For a moment it looked as if Max was going to shake his head and change the subject, but then he sighed and not meeting Roy's eyes said. "It's Mi- the Zentraedi…I met her on the day she attacked you, at the arcade."

Roy was confused, was Max trying to say he felt guilty or something? Why should he, running into an alien wasn't exactly something a person expected every day.

He said this out loud, but it didn't seem to make Max any less uncomfortable.

"It's just…uh…well I saw her before the arcade too…all over the ship, no-one knew her name or where she lived…I probably should have been suspicious…"

Roy would have shrugged if he could, instead he shook his head. "Hey, how were you to know?"

Max didn't say anything more, but Roy had a feeling the guy didn't feel any better about whatever it was that was bothering him.

"But hey, you don't need to carry my suitcase, I've still got one good arm," he picked up the suitcase, "and you don't really need to hang around here either, I'm sure you've got something better to do today."

Max just shrugged, seemed that he didn't, but he gave a quick salute. "I'm glad you're OK, Commander, good luck with your recovery."

"Thanks," Roy saluted back and with that Max disappeared down the corridor.

Shaking his head again Roy took one last look around the room and satisfied he hadn't forgotten anything headed out, breathing a sigh of relief.

_I hope I don't have to see this place again._

_

* * *

  
_

Rico, Konda and Bron were beginning to feel more comfortable about their twenty fellow Zentraedi. A steady stream of Minmei interviews and appearances, along with various other movies and TV shows seemed to have wised them up enough that the three ex-spies were not constantly worried that any of them would behave inappropriately.

This fact meant that three could go out with Sammie, Vanessa and Kim, who had spent much of the last two and a quarter lon explaining all sorts of amazing micronian customs and activities to them. The spies had been embarrassed by a few of the errors they had made, hopefully the twenty defectors would be too caught up in micronian life to ever bring them up again.

Today though, the three spies were out without Sammie, Vanessa and Kim, they were on duty, at least until about seven that evening. With that in mind Rico, Konda and Bron had decided that they should get them some gifts.

"After all, females like that stuff, don't they?" Rico said with a grin as they walked down the streets of Macross City.

Bron nodded. "But what sort of gifts?"

"Well," Konda looked about at the various shops they passed, "the micronians seem to like plants." He pointed at one of the shops with a large glass window; behind it were various 'vases' with the colourful plants in question.

"Yeah, but they don't last very long," Rico shook his head, "we don't have much money and we worked hard for it, so we should get something that will last forever."

The other two nodded, it was true, they had helped the micronian defence force with their various questions, helped rebuild some of the base that had been damaged during Khyron's attack.

"What about this place," Bron pointed to another shop, "its got that shiny stuff in it…whaddya call it – jewellery. Female micronians on the TV are always talking about it and showing it off."

Rico's and Konda's eyes brightened.

"Fabulous idea!" Rico snapped his fingers.

"Let's go in and take a look."

The female behind the counter looked up in some surprise at the sight of three Zentraedi entering the shop.

"Er…hello?"

"Hey," Rico waved and his two friends followed suit.

"Wow, look at all this stuff!" Bron remarked, rushing over to look at the glass cabinets full of glittering and shining 'jewellery'.

"It's really beautiful," Konda nodded taking a look as well.

"We want to buy something for three really special girls," Rico explained to the female behind the counter. "What do you think they'd like?"

"Uh…well…" the female looked very uncomfortable, her eyes darting about. "Well…"

"Hey, what part of the body do you females put that one on?" Bron pointed at the 'jewellery' in one case.

The female looked over. "It's a bracelet, it goes on the wrist."

"Oooh," the three went to look at them.

"I think these are best," Konda declared, "we should get them one each."

The other two nodded.

"How much are they?" Rico looked over at the female who was now wringing her hands.

"It depends on which ones."

"How much money do we have anyway?" Bron brought up a pertinent point.

The three reached into their pockets and pulled out the money, they had not yet learned how to count it, so they handed it to Rico who dumped in unceremoniously on the counter in front of the female asking. "What three can we get with this much?"

The female stared at it. "That's forty dollars."

The three looked at each other, unsure what the look on her face meant.

"So…which ones can we have?" Bron prompted.

"You can't have any," the woman shook her head. "It's not enough."

Konda frowned. "Not enough? How much is one bracelet?"

"The least-expensive one we have is ninety dollars."

The three looked at each other, surprised.

"**That** much?"

The female behind the counter looked extremely annoyed now. "It is a very fair price," she told them in a cold tone.

"What three things **can** we get for forty dollars?" Rico spoke up, hoping to ease the tension of the situation.

"You can't get even one thing," the female said, almost sounded please with the fact. "We have nothing under sixty dollars."

Collecting their money the three dejectedly left the 'jewellery' shop.

"Well, that wasn't very good, was it?" Rico said.

"That's an understatement," Konda shook his head.

"Maybe we should get the flowers after all," Bron suggested, "if we don't have as much money I was hoped."

Rico and Konda looked at each other, both wishing that they could get the Bridge Bunnies something that would last, but finally nodded.

"All right," Rico announced, "let's go then."

And turning the three headed towards the shop with the plants in the window.

* * *

In the stairway Miriya had an urge to run, to get out of the building, her prison as fast as she could, but knew that escape depended on her remaining calm. _Another micronian might appear in here any moment._ She told herself suppressing the urge again.

She was almost there…as she rounded the next the flight she saw the bottom of the stairwell, with two doors, one would lead to the outside and she would finally be free.

Reaching the door Miriya noticed there was some writing on it, frowning she stared at the words _This door is alarmed_. What could that possibly mean? In the weeks she had been aboard she had come to realise that this ability to 'read' was very important among the micronians. Miriya had often berated herself for not attempting to somehow learn what all the symbols meant, but no was not the time for such thoughts.

There was no knob on this door, just a metal bar that ran across the length of it, Miriya figured all she had to do was push the bar and laying her hands on it, she did.

A loud siren suddenly pierced the air, startling her.

_A trap!_

She had gone this far, and damned if she was going to allow herself to be caught, she pushed through the door into the streets of micronian city.

Of course she was still in turquoise gown, she had to find something else to wear and quickly.

The sound of the alarm faded as Miriya ducked into a small alleyway between the hospital and the building next to it. Now that the exit door had closed the sound of the alarm was muffled and to her confusion none of those micronian 'police' had arrived.

_Completely unpredictable these micronians,_ she shook her head, they had mighty warriors, but clearly the officers in the 'hospital' had little training in apprehending escapees, which was lucky for her.

Hurrying down the alley Miriya hoped she would come across one of those ropes strung between the buildings, where the micronians hung out their clothes. Unfortunately for her, there weren't any in sight.

But for once the 'city' was benefiting her; its complex layout meant she was able to keep mostly out of sight of the main thoroughfares. Perhaps with luck, she could return to her 'base' such as it was and send out the signal to Seloy.

She halted in her tracks however, when she saw a familiar flash of blue.

Her chest felt that strange tightness…

_It's him!_

Her warrior instinct told her to keep going, there was no time and she was certainly not fit to take the male on no matter how humiliating her defeat at his hands had been.

But almost against her will she found herself trailing after him, following him as he walked down the streets, his mind seemed far away. If only she still had her weapons he would make an easy target now…but for some reason, Miriya did not feel any anger that she was not in the position to attack the micronian.

There was something about him…She remembered the way he had looked at her both in the arcade and at the scene of the fight with the 'Skull Leader'. She realised at that moment that when she had lost consciousness she had been completely defenceless…he had seen her attacking a micronian that was no doubt his superior.

_Yet, he did not kill me, why is that?_ Miriya's eyes narrowed as she continued to follow the blue haired male. _What reason, what warrior code would not demand a dangerous enemy be killed?_

She had to know…she had to…


	29. Chapter 29

"_Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth…_

_Put out my hand and touched the face of God"_

High Flight _John Gillespie Magee Jr._

_

* * *

  
_

Finally, Donald Hayes raised his head and looked Lisa square in the face. The few minutes that had passed had been the longest in her life, Lisa felt as if weeks had passed.

"Touché," he murmured, but the corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile.

"Father?" Lisa swallowed hard against the raising excitement in her heart. For the first time in many, many years she knew she had got through to her father…something she did not think would ever happen again.

"I can't deny it, you have a point," the Admiral shook his head. "I have never had patience for special treatment between family members…" Lisa managed to restrain herself from smiling, remembering well the times that her father had refused any special treatment or acknowledgement of her in pursuit of that ideal. He heaved a heavy sigh. "I ask though…that you reconsider, Lisa…**think** do you really wish to go back to the SDF-1? You know as well as I do how dangerous this is."

Lisa reached out a hand and touched her father's arm. "I know, Father, but I must go back. I'm sorry."

The smile tugging on her father's lips finally became a full one and he folded her in a quick embrace. "You've always been a good daughter to me, Lisa…and a finer officer."

Once he released her, she rendered him a brisk salute.

"When can I return to my post, Admiral?"

Her father sighed again and folded his arms looking back down at the floor. "As soon as there is an appropriate launch window," he said his voice almost too low for her to catch.

"Oh, thank you, Father!"

At that moment the phone on the Admiral's desk rang and Lisa excused herself almost walking on air.

But as she walked down the corridor she remembered the UEG's plan for the Grand Cannon. In her attempts to return to the SDF-1, Lisa had almost forgotten it.

_They'll doom us all if they go ahead,_ she thought to herself, shaking her head. _How can I get Father to change his mind? Especially now that I'm leaving?_

It occurred to her that perhaps her father was trying to do a trade off, allowing her to return to the SDF-1 and in return she would say no more about the Grand Cannon plan.

But she knew that to do would be damning the entire human race and she could not allow that, no matter what the risks were.

_If that's what your hoping Father, you've got another thing coming,_ she vowed, _Lisa Hayes certainly doesn't let sleeping dogs lie!_

Entering her room, she headed immediately for the computer and began searching for information on orbits and launch windows. Hopefully, her wait to return to the SDF-1 would not be too long, but she hoped she'd at least have another day to change her father's mind again.

* * *

The flowers Rico, Konda and Bron had purchased for the Bridge Bunnies were all ready wilting by the time the arrived at the _Bamboo Hut_.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Rico grumbled, holding up his oversized bouquet of white lilies. "What a waste of our money!"

"Oh, I don't know," Bron looked over his bouquet, "they're pretty colours don't you think?"

"I suppose," Konda agreed, not looking too convinced himself, "but do you think they're really appropriate for this place," he gestured towards the neon lights of the disco. "There's not really anywhere to put them when we get in there."

Rico groaned in frustration, looking as if he was ready to throw his bouquet in the nearest bin, but at that moment there was the sound of female voices.

"Rico! Konda! Bron!"

The three spies turned, and smiles spread over their faces at the sight of the three Bridge Bunnies rushing as quickly as they could on the rather precarious 'high heels' female micronians seemed to often wear against all better judgement.

"We're sorry we're late!" Vanessa was a little breathless.

"We hope you haven't been waiting long," Kim added with a bright smile for Konda's benefit.

"Oh, wow! Flowers!" Sammie cried coming over to Rico. "Lilies! They're beautiful!" She gently took them from his arms.

"Sammie!" Vanessa waggled an index finger at her. "You're supposed to wait for your date to hand them over, not just **take** them!"

Sammie tossed her head. "You'll never get anywhere if you **wait** for it."

"What a fine excuse for bad manners," Kim teased, poking her tongue out at her friend.

"Uh…these are for you," Bron worried that an argument was going to break out thrust out his bouquet of roses at Vanessa.

"Thank you so much, Bron," Vanessa grinned, her cheeks flushed. "These are my favourite!"

Bron's smile widened as Vanessa leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Here you are?" Konda held out his bouquet for Kim, feeling a little uncertain.

"I've never seen such a huge bouquet!" Kim told him, her smile becoming even brighter. "You're all so thoughtful!"

The three spies looked to each other, very relieved that their plan had gone well, despite everything.

"Now we just need to figure out where we're going to put them when we go in," Sammie laughed, peeking over her lilies.

The three spies looked at each other with some embarrassment.

"Umm…sorry –" Bron began.

"Oh no, no," Vanessa cried, "Sammie's just teasing you! We'll find somewhere to put them, don't worry."

"Yeah," Kim took a hold of Konda's hand and gave him a tug in the direction of the front door of the _Bamboo Hut_. "Let's get dancing, huh?!"

Before the Rico or Bron could reply, they had their hands grabbed to and the six of them headed into the disco where they had first danced together.

* * *

Max wasn't really walking anywhere in particular, but he decided not to return to the barracks. A few months ago, there would have been no problem, Ben would have just been down the hall and would probably burst in cajoling him into going out for a huge dinner or to the arcade.

Life just wasn't the same anymore.

And of course there was Miriya.

_Just my luck, _he thought to himself, shaking his head and shoving his hands deeper into his pockets. _Of all the girls on the ship to fall in love with…I might as well have fallen for Commander Hayes!_

He gave a small chuckle at that, thinking that perhaps, Commander Hayes falling in love wasn't as unlikely as a Zentraedi doing the same.

_After all, she seems to hold a torch for the Boss…if only he wasn't hanging on for Miss Macross…There's no way that can ever happen._

At that moment, Max thought he heard a noise behind him, and quickly he turned. The holographic sky and lighting had almost faded away, bathing the city in long shadows. But he saw no-one.

Shrugging, Max turned back around and began walking again.

It was not too long though, before he heard another sound and this time when he turned he saw a shadow disappearing down a narrow alleyway between two buildings.

Max frowned, he had the strangest feeling…could it be…

_Don't be ridiculous,_ he chided himself, _just keep on walking; it's probably just a shop keeper or something going in the back way._

A small part of him continued to hope, but he pushed the thought away and returned to walking.

Finally he came to the end of the road, where an enormous observation window looked out on the field of stars beyond. The SDF-1 was in a position where Earth could not be seen but the large black mass of the Zentraedi fleet blocking out part of the moon could.

_Is Mr. Dixon right?_ Max wondered, looking hard at the mass he knew was thousands and thousands of enemy ships. _Can we trust the Zentraedi…they're bred for nothing but war, after all…_

And then in the window he caught a reflection, a face…

Max whirled about so fast he almost tripped himself up.

But he was not imagining things…

Right there in front of him was the face he could not get out of his mind no matter how hard he tried.

"Miriya," he breathed…part of him was telling him to get the Hell out of there, that the Zentraedi could become violent at any moment, as he had witnessed only a few nights ago.

Miriya though made no move to attack him…Max wondered if she had a weapon, since obviously she had escaped from the hospital and was still dressed in a thin hospital gown. Her green eyes were wide and she looked not frightened, or angry…Max couldn't figure out **what** her expression was.

"What…what are you doing here?" Max finally managed to ask, the whole encounter seemed surreal.

"I must know," Miriya spoke in a low voice, taking a small set forward. "You must tell me…why did you not kill me?"

Max blinked at her, stunned. "What?"

"I attacked the Skull Leader, I could not best him…you were in a position to kill me," Miriya took another step. "But you did not. I don't understand, is it not in your warrior code?" She swallowed hard. "Or does your code insist upon a face to face battle on equal terms?"

Max had no idea how to reply to her.

Her face took on a proud look and she tossed her head back. "If that is the case then, I am ready."

"Ready?" Max repeated, shaking his head.

"You have no weapon, nor do I…we will fight hand to hand then?"

"Fight?" Max gaped at her. "I don't want to fight you!"

The proud look left Miriya's face immediately, her brows furrowed. "You don't want to fight me? But why? Do you believe I am too poor an opponent? I assure you, I will not make it easy for you."

"It has nothing to do with that," Max shook his head, "why would I want to fight you…you haven't done anything to me."

"Perhaps not, but you have done something to **me**," Miriya stood up straight and glared at him. "You bested me and humiliated me!"

"That was a game," Max told her, realising as he said it, that the Zentraedi probably didn't have games and she probably wouldn't understand what he was talking about.

"A game," Miriya repeated, rasing an eyebrow. "I have heard that word…you bested me then for amusement…for entertainment?" Her eyes were hard and cold.

"No, I got in a game with you because I…I wanted to get to know you." Max swallowed nervously, wondering how a Zentraedi would take that sort of declaration.

"Know me? What do you mean **know me**?"

"Since I first saw you all those weeks ago… it must have been when you first came aboard as a spy. I didn't know you were a Zentraedi…and honestly I don't care."

"What do you mean you don't care?"

Max found himself walking slowly toward her, willing to risk it. "I don't care that you're a Zentraedi, I think…We aren't all that different."

Miriya's eyes narrowed. "You think that? You think that a Zentraedi would ever stoop to the base emotions and behaviour of the micronian race?"

"I…uh…" Max suddenly wondered what he had got himself into; Miriya had a look on her face now that he understood **very** well.

"I will not stand here and be insulted by you any further!" Miriya shouted her cheeks red and her eyes flashing with fury.

Max held his hands up in gesture of peace. "I'm not trying to insult you –" He began, but Miriya had lashed out with a fist catching him on the jaw with a blow that sent him reeling.

"Is your race not proficient in hand to hand combat?" Miriya asked, a smile curving her lips. "What a shame."

As she lashed out at him again, however, Max quickly raised an arm blocking her swing and he pushed her back.

"So you do know," Miriya looked happy at this fact. "Very well then."

She launched herself at him and Max had no choice but to jump out of the way.

"I don't want to fight you!" He cried.

This didn't make much of an impression and before he knew it, she had brought a leg across in a sweeping motion just behind his knees causing them to buckle and him to sprawl face up on the pavement.

"Such cowardice will not save you," Miriya sneered, "and I thought you would be such a worthy opponent."

But Max noticed she did not press her advantage when she had the chance, quick as his reflexes could carry him he got to his feet.

Miriya seemed to regain her resolve and rushed for her, her arms outstretched as she went for his neck.

Max caught her by the wrists and with all his strength kept her at bay. "I know Zentraedi are bred for nothing but war, but is that **really **all you want to know?" He demanded.

Miriya managed to kick his left shin and wincing he let go of her wrists and she quickly moved out of his reach. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she snapped, "I have learnt enough of micronians to tell me there is nothing special about your race. Your rebuilding of the fortress was no doubt a fluke. You should be exterminated…**all** of you!"

She went for him again, but Max was ready for her and they began grappling.

"Worthless micronian!" Miriya spat.

Max had no desire to fight at all, but he did want he had to do, avoiding Miriya's attempts to deliver blows at his throat.

The fact that he made no move to defeat her only seemed to anger her further, which certainly didn't make her a better fighter.

Max remained cool…or as cool as he could in the circumstances and finally he got her back up against the observation window, his forearm resting just in front of her throat…

Miriya gave a strangled cry.

"Well…what do you have to say to that?" Max demanded, smiling slightly at the fact he had managed to subdue her.

"You…you have beaten me…"

"Uh huh," Max nodded, backing away slightly, even though he was not sure what she would do.

But what she **did** do, he certainly did not expect.

Tears welled in Miriya's green eyes and spilled over down her cheeks. She slid down the window to her knees, and hung her head.

"What-" Max began, for a moment wondering if he had hurt her badly…she had after all been in hospital…

"You have proven yourself superior," Miriya's voice was trembling. "Proceed then."

"What?"

"End my life," she responded, looking up ever so briefly before hanging her head again. "I have proven myself unworthy."

"End…end your **life**?" Max could barely believe it, just the sound of the words made his chest feel tight. "But…but I **couldn't**!"

Reaching down he put a finger under her chin and gently raised her face to his. "You're so **beautiful**!"

Miriya stared at him, she obviously didn't know the meaning of his words, but he was determined to show her.

Reaching down with his other hand her slowly lifted her to her feet and then before he could really think about what he was doing he pressed his mouth to hers in a kiss.

* * *

Dr. Lang turned to Dr. Hassen.

"How in God's name did this happen?" He demanded, looking back at the empty hospital room, the empty bed.

"Didn't we warn you about these damn aliens?" Colonel Maistroff growled, glaring at Dr. Hassen as if he wanted to come to blows with the man. "They're dangerous! And now this one is on the loose!"

"They are not animals, sir," Dr. Hassen replied, adjusting his glasses in a rather impatient manner.

"They are not human!" Maistroff all but roared.

Dr. Lang shook his head. "Gentlemen, this arguing is completely useless," he said in an even tone, then turned to Hassen. "Do you have any idea vhen the Zentraedi female might haff escaped?"

"Well, some time between five-thirty and six," Hassen said, "the nurse made her rounds at five-thirty and saw her here, she was gone when dinner was brought around at six."

Dr. Lang took a quick look at his watch. "So, she has almost an hour's head start on us…."

"It's not that big a ship," Maistroff growled, suddenly. "All we need to do is make a ship-wide announcement and we'll have that alien tracked down before it can cause any damage."

"Never mind the damage the alien may do, think of what might happen if we cause a ship-wide panic," another voice sounded.

The three turned to find Captain Gloval, nervously fingering his unlit pipe.

"Are you accusing our civilians of been uncontrollable?" Maistroff demanded, as if looking for a confrontation with the SDF-1's captain.

"No, but even the most level headed populace can been induced into violent behaviour by false warnings."

"False warnings?" Maistroff spluttered. "Have you forgotten what these damn aliens did to us just a few weeks ago? The damn things almost destroyed Macross City in its entirety!"

Captain Gloval was not in the least swayed. "You are forgetting they were at least thirty Zentraedi all of whom were full-sized and in battle pods. One human-sized Zentraedi certainly poses no such threat."

"It's decent of you to be so open minded," Maistroff sneered, "but need I remind you **this** particular alien made no claims of wanting a **peaceful** existence upon this ship, she even attacked Fokker."

"I am not saying we don't need to apprehend her," Gloval replied, coldly, giving Maistroff a warning look. "But I will **not** allow a ship-wide panic to break out over it."

"This is pathetic!" Maistroff burst out. "You have all gone completely mad! If you actually believe that this aliens can be convinced to live a peaceful existence. For all we know the entire thing is a cover and reinforcements are just waiting to bear down upon us. For all we know the human-sized ones in this damn place are planning to poison the water."

"I must say Colonel Maistroff, I never suspected you as the sort who vould engage in bizarre conspiracy theories," Dr. Lang couldn't help but remark at this tirade.

Maistroff's face turned an angry red and turned to face Lang. "You're overstepping your boundaries, Doctor," he sneered.

"Colonel," Captain Gloval spoke warningly, "arguing among ourselves won't do any good. What needs to be done is a low-level search of the ship to find the alien, there will be no wide-spread announcements and no overt military action."

Maistroff looked as if there was nothing more he wanted to do than object, but he obviously valued his rank more than his xenophobic ideas. "Fine then, Captain," he spoke in an overly polite tone. "I'll have your orders fulfilled to the letter."

With that he saluted and left.

Gloval shook his head. "Obviously, he's hoping that our escapee will cause trouble and allow blame to be pinned upon us."

"It may not be as bad as mass poisoning of the water supply," Dr. Lang said, quietly. "But there's no telling **vhat** the Zentraedi has planned…after all, Roy Fokker was discharged today."

Gloval placed his pipe between his teeth. "We'll find her," he swore. "Before she can cause us any more trouble."

* * *

Everything was spinning…for a moment, Miriya thought she must be ill or even dying, she had never felt anything like this before…

The mircronian…he was…he was doing that horrible thing the one known as Lynn Kyle had done during that battle footage…

Briefly she recalled how she had thought that it must be some sort of weapon; such was the effect it had had upon the female micronian.

But if it was a weapon, it was the strangest one of all.

Because against all her instincts, against everything she had ever known, she was **enjoying** it!

It was the most amazing sensation, this pressing of lips, it made her feel as if she was floating in the air, as if nothing was important but the blue haired micronian.

He pulled away from her, looking at her wide eyed. "Uh…"

"This is why you do not wish to kill me," Miriya whispered, her voice sounding very strange to her. "Because you wish to press lips instead?"

The blue haired micronian's cheeks were red and he gave a small laugh. "Well…I guess…if you put it that way…"

Gripped by decidedly **non -**Zentraedi feelings, Miriya leaned in and pressed **her** lips to his.

She understood now, this bizarre micronian custom, and all the others that sprang from it.

It was **pleasurable**.

More pleasurable then all the battles she had even fought in and all the kills she had ever made.

Breaking away she gazed into the eyes of this strange micronian, realising now why she had been so desperate to follow him, to find out about him.

"Your name…." she murmured.

"Huh…" he looked at her his eyes seeming rather unfocused at first, then he shook his head. "Oh, uh, I'm Maximillian…Max…"

It was not like any Zentraedi name, but Miriya liked the sound of it. "Maximillian," she repeated.

"Miriya," he smiled at her, at gesture she could not help copying, but this time she meant it. "This…this is gonna sound crazy…but…" he swallowed and stepped back a little. "Will you marry me?"

The word was unfamiliar to her, but Miriya was quite certain that it was one of those male and female micronian customs, ones she had not wanted to know anything more of after ascertaining the basics.

But, now, enraptured of this blue haired micronian, this Maximillian, she wanted to know everything about it.

"Marry," she repeated the word, "yes, Maximillian, of course I shall."


	30. Chapter 30

"_You know what? When there's a War on we might as well forget dating all together!"_ Remark attributed to Lieutenant Sammie Porter

* * *

Roy sat back on the couch with no small amount of relief. It felt like **years** since he'd been here and while military quarters were hardly opulent of course, but just about anywhere was better than hospital!

The only thing that could make this better was if Claudia were here. All things considered they'd seen even **less** of each other now they'd got married and he wasn't quite sure if he should find that annoying or amusing.

Finally he decided on the latter. _After all,_ he thought, with a small smile, _shit happens. Especially in war._

He leaned back further and put his feet up on the coffee table, wondering if doing so would perhaps cause Claudia to appear since she had the uncanny ability of doing so whenever he was doing something she didn't like, such as drinking right out of the milk carton.

Unfortunately there was no way around it, it would be about three hours until he saw her. Rick though would be coming by in about an hour, so that was something at least.

After a moment, he picked up the remote and pointed it at the TV deciding he might as well catch up on what was going on in the SDF-1, there hadn't been a TV in his hospital room and visits were so short there had been better things to do to ask what was going on.

Roy wasn't too surprised to see Minmei on screen, personally he had trouble figuring out how there could be anything new to ask her, but trust Karen Frost to come up with something.

"So, Minmei, you seemed pretty stunned a few days ago when Lynn Kyle proposed. Are we to understand you never thought of him as a potential partner?"

Minmei looked extremely uncomfortable, colour flooded her cheeks and she seemed to be looking desperately at someone off screen. But if she was expecting help, she didn't get any and was forced to reply.

"I…uh…I wouldn't…I mean, well…I'm not even eighteen yet, I haven't thought that way about **anyone**."

"Where **is** Lynn Kyle? Does he respect your thoughts on this?" Karen Frost pressed the point.

Minmei looked as if she wanted to bolt and Roy found himself feeling rather sorry for her, if not completely confused. What was all this proposal stuff? When had this happened?

"Of…of...**course** he does! Why wouldn't he?"

"Well, he seemed rather…**passionate** in his declaration," Ms. Frost raised an eyebrow. "He is willing to wait for you, I suppose?"

Minmei's hand went to her throat. "I…uh…I…can we talk about something else?" She suddenly burst out.

Ms. Frost looked extremely surprised, obviously this sort of thing didn't happen to often. Now it was her turn to look at someone off screen and the response she got was obviously in the affirmative as when she turned back to Minmei she asked her if she was working any new songs.

_Geeze, _Roy shook his head, flipping the channel to reruns. _Poor Rick, that's gotta suck._ He wondered if he should bring it up with Rick when he saw him, but then decided just as quickly not to.

_What is it with this ship?_ He wondered trying to get into the sitcom that was on. _I swear there isn't a normal person on it!_

That included him, of course.

Somehow he **did** manage to get caught up in the sitcom and was surprised when he heard a knock on the door.

"Time flies," Roy muttered to himself getting to his feet and calling. "Come on in, Little Brother."

The door slid open and Rick entered, hands in his pockets, his shoulders slumped and a frown on his face.

"Hey," Roy gave him a grin, "no need to look like that, I'm hale and hearty."

Rick managed a small smile. "Can't keep you down, huh?"

"Many have tried," Roy gave him a wink, "so hey you want anything? A beer or something?"

Rick raised his eyebrows. "You're allowed to keep beer? Cripes, I'm not even allowed to have liquor chocolates."

Roy shrugged. "That's what you get for being a CAG, and all they ask of you is every second of your day."

"Yeah, I'll have a beer," Rick slumped onto the couch and gave the TV a rather accusatory look even though Minmei wasn't actually on screen. "God knows I deserve it."

Roy returned with one and tossed it over to him.

"What about you?" Rick looked rather surprised.

"Wouldn't you know it? You're not allowed to have alcohol for a month after getting a serious head injury, figures, huh?"

Rick shook his head and popped open the top of the beer.

Roy returned to the couch with a glass of water in hand and noticing the dark look on his little brother's face and decided to take a page from Claudia's book.

"So, the whole Minmei thing's still bringing you down?"

Rick almost choked on the swig of beer he'd just taken and for a moment Roy thought he was going to have to give him a hard whack on the back.

But Rick regained his composure. "What gives you that idea?"

Roy gave him a look. "Oh come on, Rick, I got whacked on the head but it didn't lower my IQ."

"Thank God for that, you need **some** IQ points to walk."

"I'm gonna ignore that," Roy gave him a warning look. "Now, come on, Little Brother, you can't mope around for the rest of your life." And then added, although he wasn't sure if it was the best thing, trying to give Rick hope. "Besides, it's not like Minmei accepted Lynn Kyle's proposal anyway, she probably doesn't love him back."

"Oh come on, Roy, it's because she's so young, that's all," Rick grumbled, "her parents wouldn't let her get married now anyway, she **has** to wait."

Roy couldn't help wishing he'd taped the Minmei interview so he could show his Little Brother just how freaked out Minmei had been during the Karen Frost interview. But then…

"Well, look, if you think that's the way things are then what are you waiting around for?" Roy decided to change tacks completely. "Get out there and look for someone who **does** actually care."

Rick looked rather stunned by this sudden about face. "What?"

"You've decided Minmei isn't ever gonna care for you, so why bother moping around like an idiot? You only live once." Roy shrugged, it felt pretty good saying that to Rick since all this talk about Minmei and how oblivious she was to Rick's feelings was becoming for want of a better word pretty damn irritating.

"But…" Rick gulped as if the very idea was scary to him and maybe it was. "What…did you give up on Claudia?" He suddenly demanded.

Roy was slightly taken aback by the question. "Well, yeah."

"Oh come on," Rick looked at him sceptically. "You gave up on her? You guys just got married!"

"We did, but it's not like it was an easy road or anything, Claudia absolutely **hated** me when we first met."

"Yeah, but face it, Roy, you were a complete Casanova, like you really cared right then."

Roy was slightly insulted by that, but decided to let it pass. "Not the moment I saw her, but I did end up liking her, I mean **really** liking her, but by then I figured it was too late. I screwed up, it happens, I wasn't gonna turn into a monk or anything over it."

Rick gave a snort of laughter.

"Hey, shut up. What I'm trying to say is, get on with it and hey, maybe it **will** turn out for you and Minmei, maybe after she sees you're doing your own thing without her she'll decide hey, Rick Hunter's the guy for me after all."

Rick looked rather dubious.

"Look at this way, it'll be better than moping around with a hangdog expression on your face. For you **and** your friends."

Rick gave him a look. "Always selfless, huh, Roy?"

"Just telling it like it is, Little Brother."

Rick finished off his beer and set it down on the coffee table and looking like he was making the supreme sacrifice said. "Well…I guess you're right…it's not like there's much I can do about it, anyway."

"That's the spirit!" Roy cheered giving him a slap on the back, but Rick didn't even crack a smile. "Oh, come on crack a smile, would ya? Who's the one who's been in hospital?"

Rick gave him a dry smile. "Been there, done that."

"Fine," Roy shrugged. "Although if you're gonna be such a downer can you at least do it at your own place?"

"What? You're kicking me **out**?"

"Like I said cheer up and put up."

Rick heaved an annoyed sigh, "Give me a break, it's been a hard week what with Minmei and...uh-"

Roy raised an eyebrow. "And what?"

"Nothin'," Rick looked away, "you got anything to eat here."

"Smooth," Roy rolled his eye. "Come on, spill."

"It's really nothing, just…being on duty and everything…and uh…Max…he's been acting completely nuts ever since he saved you from that damn alien."

"Nuts, huh? In what way?" Roy prodded, intrigued by this.

"Well…before we found out she was an alien he had a huge crush on her, remember that conversation we had with him?"

Roy hadn't, but Rick's remark brought it vaguely to mind. "Oh yeah, that green haired girl…geeze, talk about bad luck, of all the girls to fall for..."

"Yeah well, I think he still **has** a crush," Rick spoke sourly.

"What?"

"You know that night she attacked you, he seemed….really out of it, like he was disappointed she'd turned out to be an alien nutcase."

"Well, that's understandable, I mean I've had bad dates before, but finding out that they're actually the enemy...that's gotta suck."

"Yeah, but it doesn't end there, he's been moping since, I swear, if she wasn't in isolation at the hospital he'd actually try to go see her." Rick shook his head. "I mean geeze at least the defecting aliens showed us they want to abandon the way the used to live. What's this alien girl done? Tried to kill you! You'd think Max would care about something like that."

By the end of his speech, Rick had his fist clenched like he wanted to strike out at somebody.

"It's nice to see you so worked up on my behalf, little brother, but to be honest…it's not like we can really judge Max too harshly for this. It's not like he purposely went out of his way to fall for an alien."

"So, you think its fine and dandy?" Rick turned to face him, his eyes wide. "Did you forget the part where she tried to stab you?"

"This **is** war you know," Roy shrugged, "and these are aliens, it's not like she saw me as anything less than an enemy, human soldiers on opposite sides have done things just as bad to each other."

"You're more forgiving then I'd be!" Rick snorted.

"Bitchin' about the situation isn't going to do anything about it, Rick you really need to –"

But Roy didn't get a chance to tell Rick **what** he needed to do because at that moment the phone rang.

"Probably one of my adoring public," Roy winked, "finally able to breathe easy now that they've heard I'm out of hospital."

But it wasn't, Captain Gloval's voice came from the speaker as Roy tapped the hands-free button and drawled. "Commander Fokker, all in one piece."

"Fokker, I'm sorry to call you at such a time," Gloval's accent was thicker than normal, obviously, the man was stressed. "But we have a situation developing here."

Roy exchanged a look with Rick. _The UEG better not be planning something stupid again…_

"It's the Zentraedi," Captain Gloval went on, dismissing that notion. "The female one….she's escaped…"

* * *

Lisa paced, there wasn't much room to do so, there was four steps across and four steps back, but moving always helped her think more clearly.

Her father had sent a message a few hours ago that the next launch window would not come up for another eighteen hours. That left her precious little time to convenience the Brass to change their minds.

"Damn it!" She finally burst out and slumped down in the desk chair. "If only Captain Gloval was here…or Claudia…"

Lisa didn't really think they'd have much luck either, but at least she'd have an ally on her side. Despite her father reconsidering and allowing her to return to her post she knew he believed in using the Grand Cannon.

"Father, can't you see it won't get us anywhere?" She muttered under her breath.

She turned the chair around to face the desk and pulled the UEG pad and pencil from the desk drawer and set them in front of her, intending to make a list of her objections to present to her father, she was always better at writing things out coolly and logically then trying to speak about them.

As she put the pencil to paper though, an image came to her mind.

Rick.

It figured he'd come to mind at a time like this, a time when she really needed to be concentrating on something else, that was happening to her all the time now….ever since the incident with the _Daedalus Attack _on earth.

_I wonder if he thinks about me at all,_ Lisa wondered, she remembered his message to her in Morse code. _He thinks of me as a friend, at least I know that._

But really that wasn't enough…it was torture really, watching Rick chase after Minmei. If there was one thing she wasn't looking forward to in returning to the SDF-1 it was having to deal with **that**.

Lisa shook her head. _Concentrate, Hayes!_ She berated herself, turning back to the blank page in front of her. _You have a mission to accomplish…you promised Captain Gloval._

But the words wouldn't come…for once she couldn't think of logical bullet points.

Lisa dropped the pencil and got to her feet, obviously, she was going to have to take a different approach to all this. She knew that her father probably wasn't in the mood to talk to her, but she didn't really care, leaving her quarters she headed down the halls to his office.

She noticed the looks she got as she passed, no-one had approached her, but she knew they were all wondering about the SDF-1 and the people aboard and the war against the Zentraedi. Lisa suddenly wondered if perhaps, rather than speak to the Brass, she should speak to **them** instead. _After all, this Base is only run with their help…in fact it's all them…most of the time the Brass don't even make the final decisions!_

Her father would be furious, of course and it might possibly jeopardise her chance to return to the SDF-1, not to mention her ending up in the Brig for insubordination.

But it was tempting…very tempting…

Her eyes meant those of a fellow female officer and Lisa took a deep breath, preparing to take the plunge.

"Excuse me, can I –"

But the female officer immediately averted her eyes and quickened her pace.

Lisa left out an annoyed sigh, and continued up the hall, seeing yet another officer who was staring at her curiously she decided to try again.

No luck there.

Shaking her head, Lisa finally reached her father's office, but noticed immediately that the body guard that usually kept watch outside the door wasn't there. Even so, she rapped on the door with her knuckles just in case.

There was no answer, which wasn't much of a surprise.

"Damn it."

Turning she headed back down the hall wondering if she could find out exactly where the main conference room was, having a very strong feeling that that was where her father and the rest of the UEG would be.

Once again, even though one or two officers looked at her curiously, none of them would stop to speak to her.

_Obviously the Brass has put out some sort of directive not to speak to me…they're unbelievable. These people are seeing conspiracies __**everywhere**__._

Her attempts having come to nothing Lisa returned to her room and resumed her pacing.

She had to think of something, she had to do something…fast.

* * *

The Bridge Bunnies had been enjoying their night, and so had the three Zentraedi, back at the _Bamboo Hut_ the site of their first date when suddenly Vanessa felt a tap on her shoulder.

She turned ready to tell whoever it was that she was happy with her current dance partner, but stopped when she saw the look on the uniformed man's face.

"Lieutenant Leeds, Captain Gloval has requested that you and Lieutenants Porter and Young come with immediately."

Vanessa looked over at Sammie and Kim, there was a slow song on, and neither of them had noticed the man.

"Is something wrong?" Bron asked, looking concerned.

The man in uniform gave him a brief look. "Lieutenant Leeds, this is very important."

"Um…OK," Vanessa patted Bron's arm and hurried over to where Sammie and Kim were and tapped each of them on the shoulder.

"Huh?" Sammie looked up at little bit dazed.

"We'll have to cut our date short," Vanessa told them as Bron came up behind her. "We've just been called back to duty."

"Oh no," Kim moaned, "why does this **always** happen?"

"Probably because we're at war," Vanessa replied dryly. "Come on let's go."

Stand on tiptoes she planted a kiss on Bron's cheek, which made his face redden. "Thanks for a great time, I'll see you soon, OK."

"Sure!" Bron gave her a goofy grin.

With sighs Sammie and Kim followed suit with Rico and Konda, but at that point the man cleared his throat.

Vanessa prepared to give him a piece of her mind. _After all we're on a date! Just because we're in the military doesn't mean we can be rude!_

"Captain Gloval has requested that your…**companions** come along as well."

The Bridge Bunnies and the Zentraedi looked at one another surprised.

"Uh…" Rico looked nervous, Sammie took his hand.

"Well, if that's what Captain Gloval says…" Vanessa spoke slowly the man gave a curt nod and then took them to a military jeep and in no time they arrived on base.

Surprisingly, the man told them to come with him to one of the conference rooms rather than to their posts on the Bridge.

On their arrival they found not only Captain Gloval, but Doctor Lang, Commander Fokker and Lieutenant Hunter and another man, who seemed to be a doctor as well, judging from his white jacket.

"Captain Gloval," Vanessa saluted, Sammie and Kim following, their dates just looked very uncomfortable.

"Ah, you're here," Gloval had his pipe in hand and he took a short puff.

Sammie said nothing however, after all there was no rule against smoking in the conference rooms.

"There was a problem," Vanessa spoke up, indicating the man who was standing by the door. "What is it, Captain?"

"It is not widely known, but recently…Commander Fokker was attacked by a Zentraedi –"

The three Zentraedi gulped, looking terrified, obviously wondering what was going to happen to them now.

"A **female** Zentraedi," Gloval added.

Rico, Konda and Bron looked surprised.

"**A female**?" They echoed.

Gloval nodded in confirmation.

"There are female Zentraedi?" Sammie asked surprised, she turned to Rico. "You never said anything about **them**!"

Vanessa rolled her eyes, now was not really the time for Sammie to get jealous.

"That is not a surprise, Lieutenant Porter," Dr. Lang spoke, "vemale and male Zentraedi do not intermingle. Zey communicate only by video link and even then not very often."

"Oh…" Sammie calmed down, "all right then…"

"That be zee case, this is a long shot," Dr. Lang continued, almost to himself, he folded his arms and looked at the three Zentraedi. "Zis female Zentraedi obviously did not come with you and the rest of your comrades. Vhile attacking Commander Fokker she was injured and placed in hospital. Ve intended to interview her, to find out about the vemale ways of your species, however she has escaped."

Rico, Konda and Bron looked at each other. "Uh…sorry?" Bron ventured.

"Ve are not blaming you," Dr. Lang said, with the smallest hint of a smile. "Ve vere hoping though that perhaps…you would haf an idea where she may be hiding?"

"Uh?" The three Zentraedi looked even more surprised.

"Why would we know that," Konda spoke up after clearing his throat. "As you said we don't intermingle…"

Gloval looked extremely disappointed. "So you would have no clue where First Officer Miriya Parina would be?"

The three spies gave a little jump.

"**The** Miriya?" Rico gasped.

"You do know her then?" Gloval raised his eyebrows.

"Everyone knows of Miriya Parina," Bron affirmed.

"She is the most superior pilot in the Zentraedi Fleet," Konda said. "She is the one who inserted us on your ship for our spy mission."

"But vould you know of where she vould go then? Being that she is so vell known…"

"I can't even imagine why she would be micronised," Rico remarked, "she lives for battle, more than any other Zentraedi." He looked thoughtful. "One of you defeated her!" He suddenly cried a look of awe on his face. "This Commander Fokker you speak of –"

"That would be me," the blond man raised his hand. "I wouldn't say I defeated her…it was more of a tie."

"You're not dead," Bron said, "you've done much better than everyone else."

"Well, except for Max," Lieutenant Hunter muttered.

Dr. Lang whirled to face him. "What?"

Captain Gloval had also turned to him. "You're speaking of Lieutenant Sterling?"

"Well, yeah, he wiped the floor with her on _Veritechs!_"

"**What**?!" Captain Gloval looked utterly bewildered.

"It's a game at the arcade," Commander Fokker supplied.

"What has that got to do with anything?" The Captain gave Lieutenant Hunter a look that suggested he doubted the man's sanity.

"Well, she was totally pissed off at him is all, not the Max noticed…I sure did."

"That is interesting," Dr. Lang mused. "Very interesting…she is obviously not attacking you right now, Fokker…but perhaps she has gone after Sterling."

"What?!" Lieutenant Hunter eyes widened. "We can't stand around here then, if she's planning to do the same thing to him as she did to Roy…"

"Vell, I think Lieutenant Sterling is capable of looking after himself, as his academy result haf shown."

"Yeah, maybe, but that alien is totally insane! She'll probably have a knife at his throat before he knows what's what!"

"Maybe we should call him over the PA or something," Commander Fokker suggested.

Dr. Lang turned to the Captain and nodded. "A fair idea, Gloval."

"Sammie, if you'd please," the Captain turned to her.

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Sammie saluted and hurried to the communication console in the room and tapped into the PA system and her voice filled the room and the rest of the ship.

"Lieutenant Max Sterling please report to Conference Room 4A, Lieutenant Max Sterling to Conference Room 4A immediately."

And then, they waited.


	31. Chapter 31

"_It wasn't like meeting the parents…it was a __**lot**__ worse."_ Remark by Max Sterling on the following events

* * *

Max and Miriya had been in the midst of another enjoyable embrace when the voice came over the PA.

Miriya gave a start and pulled away from Max looking around. "What's going on? Who is calling you?"

Max, who had been enjoying their third kiss was disorientated for a moment then as the voice repeated its call over the PA he realised in surprise that it was Lieutenant Porter. He didn't have a clue what the Brass would want with him, but he was a solider and it was his duty to respond even if he had been off duty for two hours.

He looked at Miriya, who was still clinging to him, she had accepted his proposal, along with his jacket, which he had placed around her shoulders, but Max realised he just couldn't marry her in secret and hope for the best. He would have to bring this out in the open.

Having come to that decision though, he wasn't sure if it was such a good idea to spring Miriya on the Brass all things considered.

On the other hand…

"You've been called by your superiors," Miriya suddenly said, her eyes darkening with worry. "They have perhaps discovered my escape…you will certainly be in trouble."

For a moment, Max wondered if she was right, but looking about he saw there were no security cameras in this area of the ship.

"I don't think so," he assured her, "but…I think you better come along with me, anyway."

Miriya lifted her chin. "They will not be lenient with me, I am sure."

"Don't worry," Max assured her, "I'll explain –"

Miriya tossed her green hair and gave him a look. "I need no-one to explain my actions, Maximillian, except myself. I hope this is not what marriage is about."

Max was taken a back for a moment, but then grinned and shook his head. _Well, it looks like her pride hasn't been completely decimated after all._

"Well, no," he reassured her, "I just figured I could give you a bit of a hand, is all."

"All my appendages are perfectly sound," Miriya looked at him in total confusion. "But…I thank you for your offer." She struggled a little with those words and Max realised that she had probably never spoken them before, in either English **or **the Zentraedi tongue.

Max felt like kissing her again, but instead he turned toward base and tugged on her hand to follow.

Max realised as they arrived on base that Miriya's attack on Commander Fokker must have been kept under wraps, a few heads turned in their direction, mostly male ones, but there was no sign of hostility.

Arriving at Conference Room A4, Max saluted at the door and took a deep breath to steady his nerves as the doors slid open.

* * *

Lisa was ready to climb the walls, she had no idea where her father had gone, but a black hole seemed a possibility.

She knew exactly what she would say to him for once in her life and she couldn't find him!

Restless she left her quarters once again and began searching, perhaps there was a corridor or a door she had missed.

She didn't find her father, but she did find one of his AC's.

It was, of course, the one she **least** wanted to meet up with…

"Commander Hayes," T.R. Edwards greeted her curtly.

"Colonel," she returned the salute briskly.

"Scuttlebutt is that you will be returning to the SDF-1," Edwards spoke, an unreadable expression on his face. "A pity for you."

Lisa straightened her shoulders and met his eyes. "I'm honoured to serve aboard that ship, Colonel."

Edward's lips twisted in a cold smile. "I suppose our best and brightest **are** aboard." He said in a tone that indicated he believed the complete opposite.

Lisa wasn't willing to get into an argument over it, especially since Edwards was her only chance to find out where her father was.

"Have you seen Admiral Hayes, sir, it's urgent that I speak to him."

"I'm afraid that information is classified, Commander."

Lisa furrowed her brows. "The UEC is holding a meeting then?" The very idea sent a chill through her.

"I can't answer that, ma'am," Edwards replied, sounding extremely pleased by the fact.

Lisa gritted her teeth in frustration. _I'd love to wipe the smirk off that man's face._ Aloud however she said. "Can you pass a message to him asking him to contact me as soon as he is available."

Edwards saluted, but didn't bother to say he would, Lisa decided that was the best she could hope for, but felt pretty sure he probably wouldn't bother to.

She watched as he strode off, briefly toying with the idea of following him, but espionage wasn't something she had really excelled in at the Academy. Checking her watch she saw it was almost eighteen hundred. _I might as well head for the mess…_

She had come to a decision, she would tell whoever she could about what was **really** going on out there, how strong the Zentraedi Force really was…it was time to stop tiptoeing around the issue and she would have to accept whatever the consequences were.

_But I'm an officer and I have my duty to make sure the soldiers here who will be on the front line know what they're up against._

_

* * *

  
_

Whatever Rick had said, he certainly didn't expect what he saw when the doors of the Conference Room slid open to reveal Max.

And not only was the green haired alien standing next to him, she was **holding his hand**.

It was also clear that Rick was not the only one who was shocked, complete and utter silence descended over the room for a good minute.

Max cleared his throat in his nervous way and gave a salute. "You called for me…uh…Captain," he turned to Gloval.

Captain Gloval's pipe had actually clattered to the floor on Max and the alien's appearance, but he managed to collect himself, turning to Lang. "Doctor, that is the alien, is it not?"

Lang, his black eyes wide and looking more strange then ever nodded his head.

Dr. Hassen stepped forward. "You managed to apprehend the alien, Lieutenant Sterling?"

"Well…uh…not exactly," Max gave a small gulp. "You see…"

But the alien stepped forward, her green eyes looking briefly at Roy and a there was the briefest flash of fear. "Maximillian bested me," she began in a strong voice. "We fought on an equal footing, hand to hand with no weapons. After my defeat I expected of course, death…but…" Her voice faltered and she looked at Max with an expression that Rick could swear was…

_Love…That's ridiculous! She's a Zentraedi, that don't know what it is! _He shot a quick look at the three ex-spies, standing next to the Bridge Bunnies and wondered if he was jumping the gun a bit…

"But Maximillian said he would not, **could** not kill me," the alien had found her voice again. "And he told me why. It is this thing you micronians call love…he wishes to marry me and I have accepted."

"What!" Rick blurted not even thinking about it. He stared at Max as if he had gone insane and he probably had he decided. Marriage…to an **alien**?! "You can't be serious!"

Max got that look on his face that Rick had rarely seen before, but he knew it was trouble….Max had obviously come to a decision.

"I'm very serious, Boss," he spoke, his voice quiet as ever, but full of determination as he turned to Gloval again. "Captain, I ask your permission to marry Miriya."

"Uh…" Rick could see that Captain Gloval was completely dazed, as was just about everyone in the room except for…

Roy.

Of all people, Roy actually looked…**amused**. He actually looked like he was holding back a laugh.

_And this girl tried to __**kill**__ him!_

Roy of course had always been a sucker for a pretty face, and Rick had to admit, seeing her up close that the alien was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. But that didn't mean all was forgiven!

"Lieutenant Sterling," Gloval had finally found his voice. "Are you…are you **serious**? This woman is a member of the Zentraedi Air Force, our enemies –"

"She is not an enemy anymore, sir," Max spoke at the same time as the alien said.

"I am a member of the Zentraedi Air Force, but I am no enemy of yours."

Dr. Lang stepped forward and cleared. "Zis is quite a change of tack, Captain Parina, vhen I interviewed you, you vould not even declare your intentions for being aboard this ship."

The alien shrugged. "I did not want you to know them…I was here to kill…" she turned to Roy, "you."

"Yeah, I noticed," Roy replied, dryly. "You almost managed it."

"You defeated me, I could not let that stand," the alien lifted her chin, a proud look on her face, but Rick could tell she was more than a little wary of Roy. _Obviously, aliens can't tell when someone's letting them off the hook._

"Thanks for the honour, but I'd have called it a tie…**both** times," Roy gestured towards Max. "I take it though Sterling managed to actually succeed."

Max flushed. "I wouldn't say I beat her –" he began, but the alien interjected.

"Yes, you did, Maximillian," she spoke bluntly, but then looked at him curiously. "Why would you even say so?"

_And there's no flattery where they come from either_, Rick figured.

Then as if the entire situation wasn't completely unreal, one of the Flag Officer doors at the back of the Conference Room slid open…and Maistroff and Caruthers entered.

Rick winced. _And the shit hits the fan…now._

_

* * *

  
_

Claudia couldn't wait to get back to the quarters she shared with Roy. It was bad enough that she had been on duty when he'd been discharged from the hospital, not to mention how little time they had spent together since the wedding.

"Guess who?" She sang as she entered, immediately kicking off her shoes (whoever had come up with the idea of heels for female officers needed a good kick). Claudia gave a sigh of relief and that flopped down on the couch.

There was no answer.

Surprised, Claudia sat up again and looked towards the bedroom, the door was only open a crack.

"Roy?"

Still no answer.

Getting to her feet, Claudia rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Fokker, this is no time for jokes. I've been on duty for nearly ten hours…I don't need this."

She walked over to the bedroom door and pushed it open, revealing….

Nobody.

Claudia felt a small shiver of fear run through her…._Where on Earth are you, Roy?_

Steeling herself she headed to the wardrobe, since it would be just like Roy to hide in there…ready to jump out and shout "Boo!"

But there was no sign of him.

She did spot a small bag, tossed rather haphazardly in the corner of the room, obviously Roy had been here.

_Why on Earth would he go out? He's recovering from a serious injury._ Claudia thought, with a frown on her face.

Leaving the bedroom, Claudia searched about the main room for a note, but found nothing.

"Now, don't panic," she muttered aloud, knowing it wouldn't do any good, and besides she didn't know for sure that anything was wrong.

"Rick," Claudia murmured a second later, she remembered him mentioning to her that he would visit Roy as soon as he got off duty…which was two hours before she did. Claudia breathed a sigh of relief, obviously Rick and Roy had decided to go out somewhere.

Claudia sank back down onto the couch, wishing not for the first time that Lisa was still aboard. Not that Lisa was particularly interested in sitting around chatting, but at times like this she would have at least made an effort.

For some reason though, Claudia couldn't relax, something just felt wrong. Reaching over she picked up the phone and dialled.

Unfortunately, the annoying ring tone Roy had picked just to piss her off was clearly heard from the bedroom.

"What's the point of having a mobile phone if you don't **take** it with you?" Claudia grumbled, hanging up.

After a few more minutes of being on edge, Claudia got back up and headed to the bedroom quickly changing into more comfortable clothes, she felt a bit stupid, but she decided to head out and see if she could track down Roy and Rick. She just wouldn't be able to relax until she did.

She headed downstairs and as she passed the front desk, she noticed someone was on duty there and decided she might as well ask.

"Hey, Lieutenant Grant," the woman greeted her with a wave and then giggled. "Or are you Fokker now?"

Claudia couldn't place the woman's face, but smiled back. "It's the new millennium, so I'm keeping my last name…at least for now, makes record keeping easier."

The woman behind the desk made a face. "Record keeping who needs it?"

Claudia did actually…it might be the quickest way to track down Roy after all.

"Speaking of Fokker, have you seen him? He was supposed to be here today…"

"Oh, yeah, he and that Rick Hunter guy left a couple of hours ago…he's cute." The woman gave a laugh. "I mean, Hunter of course…not that your husband isn't cute, but you know –"

Claudia held up a hand. "I know…did they mention where they were going?"

The woman thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Sorry, no."

Claudia was disappointed, but then thought of something. "Did you happen to see which way they were headed?"

"That way," the woman gestured to Claudia's surprise in the direction of the administrative area of the SDF-1, in the opposite to Macross City.

"Thanks…uh…"

"Corporal Claire Barnes," the woman saluted.

Claudia gave a nod. "Corporal."

It was pretty unusual for Claudia to head back towards the Bridge after finally been free of the place, but if that was where Roy had gone…

* * *

Khyron was impatient.

He had thought action was lacking with Azonia at the helm, but things were even worse now that Breetai was back.

For one thing, he hadn't bothered to communicate with the Botoru Battalion in a lon.

"What is he up to, Grel?" Khyron wondered with a growl, arms folded, staring at the blank comm. screen.

"Breetai has always been rather silent when it comes to battle plans, m'lord." Grel ventured, nervously.

Khyron whirled to face him. "Silent is one thing, Grel! This is deliberate! Not only has Breetai acted completely against the Imperative by not executing those snivelling traitors on the spot, he is now refusing to allow **us** to reclaim the glory of our race."

Grel swallowed and pulled on the collar of his uniform. "You do not think it is that serious, surely?"

"Not serious? Look around us, Grel, what do you see? A million ships! The micronians have but one and what are we doing? Nothing at all! It cannot stand." Khyron's face was almost dark purple with rage. Turning back towards the comm. screen he shouted. "Put me through to Commander Breetai this instant!"

The techs in the room below worked for a few mil, then one cautiously spoke. "I'm afraid we…uh…can't m'lord Khyron, Commander Breetai has blocked radio transmissions from us."

"You see, Grel…he is blocking us…if Dolza could hear of this."

"You're not…uh…not thinking of contacting him, m'lord," Grel's voice was almost trembling with nerves. "That would be going over Commander Breetai's head and –"

"Don't tell me things I all ready know, Grel!" Khyron almost exploded, but a second later, his face changed, a small smile stretching across his face. "No...speaking to Dolza is not an option…I **would** like to know what her Ladyship, Commander Azonia makes of all this."

Grel looked stunned. "Azonia?"

"Patch me through," Khyron called to the techs.

The techs looked like they'd rather not, but they knew better than to disobey an order from Khyron. In a few mil the comm. screen lit up.

"Ah, Lady Azonia," Khyron greeted the female smoothly as her face appeared. He was pleased to see her looking quite haggard.

"Do not try my patience, Khyron, what do you want?"

"My Lady, I'm surprised, can two commanders not communicate with each other?"

"I do not simply converse with someone like **you**, Lord Khyron," Azonia grumbled. "And you do not do so with me. Confess, you want any information I have on Commander Breetai."

Khyron's eyes narrowed. "You are astute."

Azonia gave a mocking laugh. "Your attempts to praise me are too transparent for words, no wonder you're so poor at planning surprise attacks."

Khyron's ground his teeth. That woman was completely exasperating! **She** dared to question his abilities? **She** who had failed Dolza?

"Don't push me, Azonia…after all, does Dolza know of all **your** failures yet? I'd wager that he doesn't…and I could be just the one to enlighten him."

Azonia stared at him coldly. "You don't scare me, Khyron."

"And you do scare me either," Khyron glared at her in disgust. "As if a female could and **you** in particular, useless as you are."

Azonia clenched her fists. "You dare?!"

Khyron smiled, there was nothing he enjoyed more than angering Lady Azonia, it was so easy to do so.

"Of course, I dare," he laughed, "what are you going to do about it? **Attack **me?"

He knew she wouldn't of course, but it was a welcoming prospect.

Azonia didn't answer, instead she gave a menacing growl and broke the connection.

"Well…" Khyron said to himself, folding his arms and smiling, "this lon has not been a complete waste after all."

* * *

Captain Gloval really wished he hadn't dropped his pipe...

Maistroff and Caruthers had entered the room and at the sight of four aliens turned several shades of red.

"Colonel, General," Gloval finally found his voice.

Maistroff's face had settled to a furious red and he turned to Gloval. "What is **this**, a menagerie?"

"Excuse me, Colonel," Dr. Hassen took exception to this, "scientific study has conclusively proven the aliens genetic similarity to us-"

"Spare us, Hassen," Maistroff spat, he turned to Gloval, his eyes cold. "You've recaptured the female alien I see…rather quickly, too."

"**Captured**?" The female alien stepped forward, her eyes narrowed, Gloval saw immediately this was not a female to cross. "I turned **myself** in."

Maistroff turned to face her, a look of utter contempt on his face. "We cannot thank you enough," he sneered and then picking up the phone on the conference desk, he dialled a number. "Security," he spoke, briskly.

"Maistroff, what the Hell are you doing?" Gloval demanded as the man slammed the phone down, though he all ready knew the answer.

"I'm having these aliens locked up, once and for all."

Sammie, Vanessa and Kim immediately objected.

"You can't!"

"That isn't fair!"

"They haven't done anything!"

Maistroff gave the three a withering glance, but the Bridge Bunnies were made of sterner stuff and just glared back at him.

"First Officer Parina may be guilty of attacking Commander Fokker," Dr. Lang interceded, "but zese men," he gestured towards Rico, Konda and Bron, "haff done nothing."

Gloval could see from the look on Lt. Sterling's face that things were going to get a lot worse if he didn't diffuse the situation…somehow.

"None of the Zentraedis are to be taken into custody," he declared in his most authoritive tone. "Maistroff, cancel the security call immediately."

For a moment it appeared Maistroff was going to take a stand, but the knowledge that on the SDF-1 Gloval was the highest ranking officer stopped him. His hand shaking with rage he picked up the phone and redialled security.

While everyone's attention was diverted, Gloval retrieved his pipe and put it between his teeth. "Now, let's all be rational," he began, "Commander Fokker," he turned to the man, "do you have anything to say to First Officer Parina." He had no idea **what** Fokker would say, but he hoped it wouldn't add fuel to the fire.

Fokker looked rather surprised. "What? Oh…well, I'd have appreciated it if you **hadn't **tried to stab me, but it's a war…and frankly I know a couple of people who probably would have reacted the same way as you if they'd lost a battle. In fact, I know one who **has**." He looked First Officer Parina squarely in the eye and Gloval noticed the look of astonishment on her face at his words.

"How good of you to be so forgiving, Commander," Maistroff spluttered, "perhaps you are forgetting how dangerous this…" he seemed ready to describe First Officer Parina in particularly derogatory terms, but apparently changed his mind, "alien is?"

"Yeah, she's really dangerous," Fokker drawled, rolling his eyes, "just look how she attacked us when she came into the room, the Captain barely escaped with his pipe."

Lt. Hunter gave a muffled laugh, which he suppressed quickly.

Maistroff's face almost went purple at this. "Commander Fokker, you may be CAG, but **I** am your superior officer and will not –"

Dr. Lang stepped in. "Colonel, it is my considered opinion that Captain Parina is no longer a threat to us, she came here villingly."

"That's right," Lt. Sterling spoke up, a look on his face that showed his complete seriousness. "We came to get the Captain's permission to marry."

For a few seconds Gloval wondered if Maistroff and Caruthers were both going to pass out, they went so pale.

"Wh-wh-**what**?" Maistroff finally managed to splutter. "Marry? Are you completely out of your **mind**?"

Lt. Sterling straightened his shoulders and declared. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life, Colonel."

"This is completely ridiculous!" Caruthers suddenly spoke up for the first time. "It is one thing to allow defecting aliens to stay aboard, it is quite another to…to…**intermingle** with them."

Lt. Sterling's cheeks became red, which Gloval had to admit was the closest he had ever seen the young man come to anger.

"I'm going to marry her," Sterling spoke with complete conviction, reaching out he took Captain Parina's hand.

Maistroff gave a weak half-laugh and turned to Gloval. "Obviously, we need a medic, Captain. Lt. Sterling is obviously suffering from some sort of mental disorder."

Gloval thought for a few seconds, taking a deep inhale of his pipe before giving his answer.

"I don't think so, Maistroff…after all, I have all ready given permission for the marriage to go ahead."


	32. Chapter 32

_"The more you care about someone, the angrier you get when they do something you don't like...at least that's the theory...I think it means you're just a control freak."_ Lisa Hayes in a letter to Karl Riber about her father

* * *

She hadn't managed to warn anyone.

Colonel Edwards had obviously figured she was up to something, Lisa hadn't even had a chance to eat her food when two security officers appeared either side of her and politely 'requested' that she come with them.

She had set the tray back down and followed them, aware that all eyes were on her, which had filled her with some satisfaction at the very least those who were insightful would realise the Brass was hiding something. Why else would they strive to keep her silent?

The two security officers led her to a small bare room and Lisa realised for the first time…**she** Miss Top of Her Class had been sent to the Brig.

The very first thing she thought was. _Imagine if Rick was here to see __**this**__!_

Then she shook her head, but couldn't help but smile. _Face it, Hayes, you're in trouble and __**not**__ just with the Brass._

Lisa was certain that she had just ruined any chance she had of returning to the SDF-1, that thought was enough to take the smile off her face. The thought of it made her heart ache. But she knew what she had done, or at least **attempted** to do had been the right thing. That would have to get her through this…

Her head came up at the sound of the door sliding open.

"Lisa…"

It was her father…at least she had finally got his attention.

"What is going on?" he looked more confused than she had ever seen him. "Edwards reported you for attempted sedition…"

Lisa gave a start. "And you believed **him**? Just took him at his word?!"

Her father didn't meet her eyes. "Of course not," he said, "but those are serious allegations, Lisa, they couldn't just be ignored."

"So, you had two of your bully boys round me up and toss me in here," Lisa shot back, crossing her arms, "I understand **completely**."

"Lisa, please," her father looked at her so desperately that she found herself softening.

"Father, why haven't you reported to any of the officers and soldiers here of the power of the Zentraedi Fleet?" She asked, softly. "I sometimes wonder if any of them even **know** we're up against an alien attack!"

"We have not kept them **that** much in the dark, I assure you," her father spoke gruffly. "But we can not just declare to them that an armada of a million ships are out there. We have not yet decided on a date to fire the Grand Cannon and until we do, it will just cause mindless panic and distraction…which we **don't** need now."

Reminded yet again of the UEC's hopeless plan, Lisa reached out and took her father's hand. "Father, please, you have to listen to me," she began, looking into his shocked green eyes. "You **have** to cancel the firing of the Grand Cannon, it won't work! It won't!"

"Lisa," her father signed, and pulled his hand from hers. "Gloval is good strategist, but he is **not** infallible."

"Neither are you!" She objected.

Her father gave her a cool look. "Perhaps not, but you don't have all the facts."

"And **you** do? Did you and your Council even **listen** to the reports from the SDF-1?"

"I can assure you we have and let me tell you as I said before there are facts neither you nor Gloval are aware of."

Lisa clenched her teeth, biting back a very rude reply. "So, are you going to…**enlighten** me with these facts before I return to the SDF-1?"

There was a long moment of silence as Lisa waited to hear whether or not it was still a possibility.

Her father turned away from her. "Lisa, an accusation of sedition is a serious one, it has to be investigated –"

"So you're not letting me return," she snapped, "I should have known."

"Everything is prepared for your return," her father replied, "but you attempted to go over the heads of the Council…" he shook his head.

"A more serious crime than has ever been committed?" Lisa demanded. "What about what you and your precious council told the world about the disappearance of the SDF-1? To everyone out there we're all dead! When is that justifiable?!"

Her father didn't reply.

"What about refusing the people of Macross City asylum, have you forgotten something known as the Geneva Convention?" Lisa pressed.

Her father still did not respond.

"Have you forgotten **everything** the military stands for now? When the UEG was founded it was **supposed** to be about peace keeping, about **preventing** a world wide war from ever happening again! **You** told me that! That's why I wanted to join the military…and now…I'm ashamed I ever did."

Finally, her father spoke. "The shuttle leaves tomorrow morning at oh-ten hundred hours, Commander Hayes, be ready."

And with that he left.

* * *

Claudia was becoming increasingly frazzled.

_Where is that man? How can he go missing on a __**spaceship**__, there's only so many places he could be!_

But it seemed that way, she wondered if Corporal Barnes had just come up with a wild guess as to where Roy and Rick were headed. Wandering the corridors of the administration sector of the Base had got her plenty of blank stares.

Now she was randomly trying to open doors, hoping that either Roy would behind one of them or someone who knew where he was would be.

Coming upon Conference Room 4A, Claudia found the door was locked, which was rather unusual, unless there was a meeting going on inside and she certainly hadn't seen any written up on the schedule.

_Probably some amorous desk duty officers, _she thought, wryly, knowing that particular trick well herself.

She turned away to continue her search when the door suddenly slid open and Colonel Maistroff stormed out his face dark red with fury, General Caruthers was in tow, his face completely white.

Suppressing a snicker at the thought of **those** particular two officers getting up to something like that, Claudia turned towards the now open door and gasped.

In front of her was a green haired Zentraedi.

She was wearing an RDF uniform jacket, but underneath was a thin gown…a **hospital** gown.

"You!"

The woman gave her a blank look.

"I don't know how the Hell you got out of hospital, but you're getting nowhere near my husband again!"

"What?" The woman barely managed to get out before Claudia grabbed her by the lapels of the jacket and pinned her to the opposite wall.

Before she was able to do anything further with her hand to hand fighting skills there were a number of loud gasps from the Conference Room.

Claudia looked over her shoulder in surprise.

In the Conference Room doorway stood Captain Gloval, Dr Lang, Dr Hassen, the Bridge Bunnies, three strange looking men, Max Sterling, Rick….and **Roy**.

"Roy!" Claudia cried, letting the female go she ran to Roy and threw her arms around him.

"Wh- whoa, watch the shoulder…"

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, whacking him on his good arm. "I've been worried sick!"

"What am **I **doing here? What about you? When did you start putting in overtime? Not to mention throwing people around." Roy replied.

"She tried to kill you!"

"Yeah, a lot of people have tried that…"

Claudia went to whack his arm again when she noticed what was going on behind them.

Max Sterling had run to the Zentraedi's side and taken her hands, Captain Gloval was looking completely stunned, Rick totally confused and the three strange looking men were standing close to Sammie, Vanessa and Kim.

"Wow," the tallest one, who was heavy set looked at Claudia with wide eyes. "I've never seen a **micronian** female do that!"

"That was amazing!" The shortest one, with pasty skin added.

"Can you do that too?" The one with the purple hair asked Kim.

Claudia was really beginning to wonder just what she'd walked into. "What **is** all this? What's going on?"

"You just tried to take out Max's fiancée," Rick gasped.

"Max's **what**?!"

"Fiancée," Roy repeated, "I would have thought **you'd** remember the term," Roy joked.

"This isn't funny," Claudia told him off, "that…that woman's an alien."

"So are those three guys," Rick gestured towards the three men, "but as Doc Lang likes to point out there's not much difference between them and us."

"But she…" Claudia had no idea what was going on, the entire thing seemed completely unreal.

Captain Gloval came over to her. "Lieutenant, I…your quick reflexes are most appreciated," he began, gruffly taking a deep inhale of his pipe. "But in this case unnecessary."

"Uh…" She looked over at Max and the green haired Zentraedi, colour beginning to rise in her cheeks. "She…she's not a danger anymore…"

"Thanks to Max," Rick informed her, "swept her off her feet."

"Though not quite like you did, dear," Roy grinned at her and she gave his good arm another whack.

"This is no time to joke, Fokker," she told him off and lowered her voice. "I've made a complete idiot out of myself."

Roy gave her a sympathetic smile. "Well you were only trying to defend me."

"Max is going to kill me," Claudia added, sneaking the briefest look towards them.

"Nah," Rick assured her, "there's no-one more laid back than Max and hey what you did was understandable enough…considering…"

Claudia wasn't too sure about that, but decided to risk it, leaving Roy's side she took a few steps over towards Max and the alien.

"Um, Lieutenant Sterling, I…er…" she looked at the Zentraedi, "sorry."

To her surprise it was the Zentraedi who spoke. "It is understandable, Maximillian has explained marriage to me, I attacked your mate and you were seeing that I did not do so again."

"Well…yes…"

"I can assure you, it will not occur again," the woman continued, brushing back her green hair. "After all, I have Maximillian to protect now."

"Yes, well…sorry," Claudia repeated before backing away, noticing as she did the looks of amusement on the faces of those around her, but whether they were directed at her or Max's fiancée she had no idea and frankly she didn't care.

"There you go," Roy took her hand, **he **was obviously amused by her, "apologising isn't so hard."

Claudia gave him glare. "You tell **me** after disappearing like that..."

"Now who's in trouble?" She heard Rick whisper.

* * *

Somewhere in the southern states of the US, Vince Grant was impatient.

Here he was waiting for the love of his life and it was beginning to seem like she was coming.

Picking up the menu for the tenth time he tried to concentrate on the items inside, since right now he wasn't even sure what kind of restaurant he was in, which was pretty pathetic seeing as he had selected it.

But he couldn't concentrate, closing the menu with a snap, he dropped it back down on the table.

Where was she?

Vince had felt at loose ends ever since the news had come almost two years ago, about the Macross Island incident.

_Claudia_, Vince thought with a sigh, regretting not for the first time that the Powers-That-Be had reassigned him a mere three weeks before Launch Day.

His sister had been all the family he had, he was still filled with grief and something almost like nausea when he thought of their parents, ruthlessly caught up and killed in an anti-UEG plot.

It had been the worst day of Vince's life when he had heard the news, seen the footage on the CBS news.

The day Claudia had died had almost been as bad, only Jean's presence had made it bearable.

Jean…

Vince craned his head looking towards the front doors of the restaurant. He had something very important to say to her today and he had been so sure she'd be here.

A waiter appeared by the table. "Ready to order yet, sir?" He asked in a rather impatient tone. Vince couldn't really blame him, noticing the number of people grouped around the maitre-de at the front of the restaurant, it was a popular one and really if Jean wasn't going to show up then he really shouldn't be taking up a perfectly good table –

"Vince!"

A smile broke across his face as he spotted her, waving over the heads of the couple arguing with the maitre-de, her distinctive purple hair was loose around her shoulders, which was quite a change. As a doctor in training, Jean usually had to keep it tied back.

Getting past the arguing couple, she hurried over to the table and all but collapsed into the chair the waiter pulled out for her.

"Phew!" She breathed, and wiped her brow. "I'm so sorry, Vince! But a car crash victim came in just as I was about to go off duty and I couldn't –"

Vince took her hand, which she had been waving about to illustrate her story. "Hey, it's fine, I know how it is."

"My, aren't you understanding tonight," Jean grinned at him. "Any particular reason for that?"

"Er," Vince gulped, suddenly becoming very nervous, it wasn't that he was unsure about what he was planning to ask, but it was still a pretty big thing!

"I just…well, you're a doctor, can't really complain about a doctor saving lives can you?"

Jean tilted her head. "I'm not **actually** a doctor, it'll be another couple of years, yet."

"I know you'll be a good one," Vince told her sincerely.

"Ooh, flattery," Jean's brown eyes glittered with amusement. "Now, I **definitely** know something's up."

Vince laughed, but with his nerves it came out with a slight squeak.

"Spill it, Grant, inquiring minds want to know." Jean leaned forward.

"Er…well…" Vince let go of her hand in order to wipe his sweating palms on his uniform jacket.

"Come on…you can tell me anything," Jean pressed, then she looked concerned. "It's not about…." She left the sentence unfinished, but Vince knew what she was asking.

The SDF-1 and Macross Island had seemingly disappeared without a trace, conspiracy theories abounded that the ship was still out there somewhere, especially seeing as no…bodies had ever been found. But Vince didn't put much stock in conspiracy theories.

"No, no," he shook his head and reached out to pat her hand reassuringly. "Nothing like that."

"Well then what? You look so serious!"

"The thing is…uh…since we've met, you've always been there for me, even though you have so many other people to help."

Jean looked touched at his words.

"And well, I know I always want that in my future," he continued after clearing his throat.

Jean's eyes widened, especially when Vince reached into the inside pocket of his jacket, pulling out a black jewellery box.

"So, Jean Grace Thomas, will you marry me?"

He opened the box, fumbling with it a bit, and held it out towards her.

Jean had clapped her hands to her mouth, her eyes huge.

The minutes passed and Vince began to wonder if he had made a terrible mistake…

But suddenly, Jean let out a shriek and leapt to her feat coming around the table to throw her arms around him. "Oh my God! Of course, yes!"

And with that, everyone in the restaurant, including the couple who had been arguing so vehemently with the maitre-de burst into applause.

* * *

Minmei had been certain that Kyle would never come looking for her at his parents' restaurant, but she should have guessed after the horrible interview with Karen Frost that evening that he would.

She heard the commotion downstairs, Kyle and his father could never be in the same room without an argument breaking out, then she heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

She was extremely tempted to dive under the covers of her bed and pull the pillow over her head.

But when Kyle knocked on the door, with surprising timidness considering the way he'd stormed upstairs she decided that she ended up letting him in.

He looked extremely stressed as he strode in. "Minmei, here you are! I've been looking everywhere!"

She wondered if that was really so, after all, she would have thought her location would be pretty obvious.

"Vance is worried about you," Kyle continued, "he told me you did some interview this evening and it went to pieces. You didn't have a plan did you? You forget to ask them for a list of questions **before** going on, didn't you?"

Minmei was perplexed, for the past week she'd been terrified at the thought of seeing Kyle, sure that he would make declarations of love, but here he was talking as if nothing had happened!

"You know what those interviewers are like! They'll take anything you say and twist it around…we'll have to do a follow up interview you know, damage control…You came off awfully."

Ordinarily, Minmei would have been miffed at this description of her, but she was so relieved that Kyle had apparently decided to bury everything under the sand that she couldn't be.

"O-of course, Kyle," she answered, finally finding her voice.

Kyle, who had been pacing the room, stopped and came over to her. "I don't know why you ran off like that," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders. "You know I only want to help you with your dream."

Minmei wasn't too sure about that, but the way Kyle was acting now it certainly didn't seem like he was planning to kiss her or anything like that…

"Well…um…sometimes I'm just a silly girl," she said, just to drive the point home in case Kyle really **did** have ulterior motives. "But I'm glad you came," she continued, "I really **do** need your help."

Kyle grinned, looking very pleased. "I know you do."

"Let's go downstairs, grab a table and talk," Minmei suggested, she had smelled the delicious food her Aunt and Uncle served the whole day and she was very hungry.

Kyle though shook his head. "We can't eat here, so many people will come up and ask for your autograph or why you were acting like that during your interview…it'll be chaos. Let's go to the _Centinel_ and get room service."

Minmei's spirits dropped, she really **didn't** want to go back to the hotel, but she should have known Kyle would never stay here. Looking down at her shoes for a moment, she thought about insisting, but she really didn't want to get into an argument with him again, so instead she nodded.

"Okay, let me just get my clothes packed."

Kyle smiled even more broadly. "I'll be in the limo downstairs," he told her, before planting a chaste kiss on her forehead and then leaving.

As Minmei pulled her clothes from the wardrobe she thought about the fact that Kyle had the limo there waiting…as if…

But she shook her head, Kyle was there to help her, he'd got the message and she hadn't needed to get into a big discussion about it! Life was looking good for her again.

* * *

At Miriya's insistence Max had agreed to leave her in the hands of Drs Lang and Hassen for further medical tests and interviews. When the doctors had first come over after everything calmed down with Lt. Grant dragging off Commander Fokker for what Max assumed was going to be a quite a telling off, he had refused to budge from his soul mate's side.

Dr. Lang had assured him that Miriya would be well-treated, no longer being considered a prisoner of war, but Max hadn't been convinced.

"You probably see her as something interesting to study," he had said to the doctor as an aside. "But she means a lot to me."

"I assure you, Lt. Sterling, ve vill not do anything to upset her, it is very important ve conduct these studies. You must understand that vhat ve discover may help lead to a peace process between ourselves and the aliens."

Max had glanced over at Miriya who had been craning her head trying to see what he was doing no doubt, he had all ready realised that his wife to be wanted to look after herself.

"Maximillian," she had called to him and when he came over she had taken his hand and told him that she could deal with anything these men asked of her.

So Max had left, and as he walked through the base he realised that there was something he needed to do…

Ben's parents.

He wasn't sure when the wedding would be, but he had no doubts that it would be very soon and there would no doubt be a lot of publicity and there was no way he could let Mr. and Mrs. Dixon hear about it second hand.

But the very idea of it made his heart drop as he walked into the streets of Macross City towards the Dixon's dry cleaning store.

He was pretty sure that when he broke the news, Ben's parents were never going to speak to him again.

Arriving in front of the dry cleaners, he stared up at the neon sign, thinking of how both aboard the SDF-1 and on Macross Island he and Ben had walked home from school and walked under that sign. It had always said 'Welcome Home' to Max, but this time…

But he couldn't back out, taking a deep breath and steeling himself, he walked up to the locked glass door and pressed the buzzer.

"Hello?" Mrs. Dixon's voice answered.

"It's…um…me…Max."

"Max!" Mrs. Dixon's voice brightened. "What happen to your key, dear?"

Max had actually forgotten about that key, as far as he could remember it was back in this barrack room.

"I must have forgot it, uh, sorry…"

"No, no, I'll be down right away to let you in," Mrs. Dixon assured him and true to her words in less than a minute she was opening the door.

Max felt even worse when he saw that she was looking happier than she ever had since Ben's death. She immediately wrapped him up in a warm hug.

"I'm...uh…I hope I didn't disturb you," Max mumbled, "it's kinda late-"

"Oh no, it's lovely to see you, come up, come up!" She took his arm and led him up the stairs calling. "Frank! Frank, turn that TV off, Max is here!"

The Dixon's upstairs apartment looked the same as ever, even after the destruction the Zentraedi had wrought. Mr. Dixon was just getting up from his arm chair switching off the TV as he did.

"Max! How you been, boy?" He too was in a hearty mood.

Max started to wish he hadn't come, he just knew that what he was going to say would ruin their happy mood and if anyone deserved happiness it was Mr. and Mrs. Dixon…

But he couldn't run away from it.

Shortly he found himself sitting on the couch with a cup of tea and some iced biscuits in his hands. Mr. and Mrs. Dixon sitting on the couch across from him.

"So, tell me, Max, what have you been up to?" Mr. Dixon asked. "How's the RDF going? I've noticed we haven't been attacked in almost two weeks! Whatever you did last time must be working."

Max gave a small smile, he didn't have a clue why the Zentraedi weren't attacking, but he decided not to say so.

"I've been…uh…um…" he was at a loss for words, then decided that he better take the plunge. "I've been spending most of my time trying to meet a girl I've um seen around a lot…"

Mrs. Dixon immediately perked up in interest. "A girl, Max, do we know her? What does she look like? I think Frank and I have met everyone in town with our dry cleaning! Isn't that so, dear?"

Mr. Dixon his mouth full of biscuit nodded.

"Uh, no…I don't think you do know her," Max replied evasively, certain that his cheeks were burning.

Mrs. Dixon didn't look too convinced, but decided to move on. "So, have you had any luck with this girl? What's her name?"

"I…er…have actually…we met about a week ago, her name is Miriya." He gulped.

Mrs. Dixon looked thoughtful. "Miriya? I can't say I've ever heard that name before, it's quite pretty."

"It is," Max agreed rather lamely, sure that Mrs. Dixon wouldn't think so when he explained it was a Zentraedi name.

"So, are things serious with this lady," Mr. Dixon asked, "from the look on your face I'd wager they are."

"Well…yeah, it is…" Max gulped this was it. "Very serious…we're uh…getting married."

He hadn't been able to look Mr and Mrs Dixon in the face, but now he looked up and saw the look of absolute shook on their faces.

"**Married**?" Mrs. Dixon gasped. "Max, are you sure? You said you've known this girl for less than a week!"

"I never thought I'd say this to you, Max," Mr. Dixon began, shaking his head, "but I do think your jumping the gun here. I know that as a soldier…" his voice trailed off, and Max knew for certain what he was thinking. "As a soldier you never know what might happen, but marriage isn't something to be entered into lightly."

"I know, sir, but…there's…there's something…um…**unusual** about this girl."

Mrs. Dixon brows furrowed. "Unusual? I don't mean to be rude, dear, but I'd have thought that would be **more** reason to take things slowly."

"It's not…" Max set down his tea cup and got to his feet. "I uh…you have to understand…Miriya…she's a Zentraedi."

The silence that fell over the room was utterly deafening…it was almost painful.

He had turned away as he delivered his news, not able to look at their faces, but now he knew he had to turn back around.

Mr. and Mrs. Dixon looked at him in complete shock, their eyes were wide, their faces had gone pale, Max couldn't tell though if they were horrified, upset or worst of all furious.

Minutes…hours seemed to pass, and no-one spoke. The silence became almost like a physical force, pressing down on Max, threatening to choke him, he actually felt short of breath.

Finally he had to break it. "I'm sorry, I know this is hard for you…but Miriya…the Zentraedi…they…they aren't that different from us, they didn't know it and we didn't know it. They're bred for war, they didn't know anything else…they can't really be held responsible –"

He was cut off by a cry.

Mrs. Dixon had lurched to her feet, her hands to her mouth, tears running down her cheeks and her entire body trembling.

Max felt sick looking at her, she was so devastated…

"I'm sorry," was all he could say, pathetically.

Mrs. Dixon turned and ran from the room.

Max wanted to follow her, wanted to explain and he actually took one step to, but Mr. Dixon had got to his feet as well and was now standing in front him.

Like his son, Mr. Dixon was a tall man, but never in his life had Max seen him looking so imposing, so furious, he was actually shaking. He raised his arm and pointed to the stairs and bit out two words.

"Get out."


	33. Chapter 33

_"Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven."_ Tryon Edwards

* * *

The phone was ringing as Captain Gloval approached his quarters.

He heaved an exasperated sigh, he knew of course he was the Captain of a ship in the midst of war, but just for once he'd like a little peace and quiet especially after the past few hours.

But he knew he couldn't, so as soon as he entered the room he hurried to the phone and lifted the receiver.

"Gloval."

"Captain," one of the relief techs on the Bridge greeted him. "The Bridge has just received a coded transmission from Alaska Base."

Gloval's heart jumped. "Has it been translated?"

"Uh…not yet, sir, Tech Wright is still in the middle of it, but I thought you'd want to know."

Damn right he did. It had been almost two weeks of silence from Alaska Base, now…finally.

"Have it patched through to me immediately," he told the relief tech, "I'll decode it myself."

"Aye, aye, sir."

A moment later Gloval's laptop signalled the arrival of the transmission and he hurried over to look at it.

The UEG code was a difficult one, but having being among those who had come up with it, Gloval quickly ascertained what it contained.

The answer to his prayers.

He read it out loud just to make sure. "Alaska Base confirms an appropriate launch window will open at oh-ten hundred hours Alaska Time on 27th October. The SDF-1 is requested to send a shuttle to pick up and transfer Commander Hayes at this time."

The message made no mention of a truce, but Gloval hadn't really expected it to. It was enough that Lisa was returning. He had to wonder how she had managed to convince her father.

There would be time enough to ask that on her return, he decided and invigorated with a new energy he hurried back to the phone.

He had preparations to make.

* * *

Rick was lying on his bunk in his quarters, wondering if the universe was having a joke at his expense.

He had left the two happy couples (well, he was sure his Big Brother and Claudia would be happy enough after she finished blasting him for not leaving a note) to themselves and come back here, where he always seemed to be.

"What a charmed life I lead," he told the ceiling.

He knew he shouldn't complain, he was going pretty well for a soldier in a vicious war, not being dead and all.

But it was hard to remember that with the way his life was going right now.

Rolling over he picked up a photo that he kept on the ledge beside his bunk, it had been taken hardly a year and a half before, but it seemed like forever ago.

The night before his first combat mission, when he had called Minmei asking her to come and meet him, this had been before she was a star and she had actually been able to.

She had run up to where he'd been waiting for her in front of the Peace Fountain in Macross City Park in a new pink dress. She had looked so pretty in it and she had thought he looked dashing in his RDF uniform… One of those stupid automatic photo machines had been rolling around the place and he had called it over to take their picture, to capture the moment forever.

Minmei though, had left before the picture had been developed and for some reason, Rick had never got around to giving her a copy of her own. He doubted it she'd want one now, even if he could give it to her.

_I guess I could send it to her,_ he thought with a sarcastic laugh, setting the photo back down.

He thought about how earlier on the day the picture was taken he and Minmei had gone shopping together…or rather he'd carried her bags, while she had exclaimed over all the displays in the shop windows.

He remembered something else about that day…Mr. Lingerie indeed…at the time and for a long time afterwards he'd been mortified at the very thought of that nickname. But he remembered now how amused Lisa had been and her rather scathing remark. _"I don't know what your particular problem is, but it's not the best look for you to be hanging around lingerie shops looking for a cheap thrill."_

He guessed he'd deserved that, after everything.

But really, why him?

_Why can't love be simple for me? Like it is for Max?_ It seemed pretty unbelievable that his friend could have a smoother time with relationships having fallen in love and proposed to the enemy and an alien to boot. All Rick wanted to do was date a teenage girl!

_But then Minmei isn't just any teenage girl,_ Rick reminded himself, smiling wryly in the dark.

Then for some reason his thoughts turned back to Lisa. He wondered how she was and what she was doing down on Earth. He wondered how her meeting had gone with the Council and he wondered when he'd see her again.

He rolled over and gave his pillow a few punches, trying to get it fluffed up and comfortable. He really needed to get some sleep, who knew when the aliens would attack?

And thinking about Lisa was always so confusing, especially since Rick had to admit he was finding himself feeling more and more attracted to her.

_I'm a sucker for punishment, that's what I am,_ he decided as he lay back down. _I can't go out with the darling of the _SDF-1_, so I'm going to go for the most uptight, duty bound officer on the whole damn ship._

Rick pulled the covers up over his head. _Maybe I should just play Russian Roulette next._

* * *

Breetai sat in is command chair, thinking.

Exedore as always stood silent next to him, waiting to answer any questions that might be directed to him.

But Breetai had a feeling that his faithful advisor wouldn't be able to answer the questions that were currently swirling through his brain.

_Why would any Zentraedi defect?_

_Have the micronians rediscovered their pure form protoculture weapon?_

_And if they have why haven't they attacked us yet?_

He got to his feet, the chair creaking and walked up to the edge of the command bubble, looking down through the hole at the techs below.

"Bring up an image of Zor's fortress," he demanded.

There was a burst of activity and the comm. screen was drawn into the air and came to life showing the fortress silent as ever just out of the range of their weapons.

"What are they up to?" He rumbled, stroking his chin.

He narrowed his eye at the image as if that would somehow allow him to see into the fortress. There had of course been some footage recorded by the 1st Battalion during the attack inside it, but the recording devices hadn't been working well after so many lons of combat and the images were confusing at best.

Those who had attempted to defect, or at least disobeyed the orders given were still in solitary confinement, the questioning hadn't brought to light anything…except…

The disappearance of twenty-three of the 1st Battalion.

Breetai remembered dismissing the information when Exedore had first given it to him, but after confirming the fact that only six pods were missing the conclusion had been rather obvious.

_There are Zentraedi on that ship now,_ Breetai thought, his good eye still fixed on the silent image before. _Zentraedi who have decided they prefer the micronian way of life to __**ours**__. How can this be?_

Breetai simple couldn't imagine giving up everything that the Zentraedi stood for, the conquest, the victories, the benefits of their enormous size to go and live with the micronians. Particularly considering the depravity of many of their customs, the entire thing was unbelievable.

Finally, he turned away from the comm. screen.

"Exedore."

His advisor had been deep in thought, but now he looked up with dark black eyes.

"What is your opinion of the defectors?"

Exedore looked surprised. "Opinion, m'lord?"

"Yes, you have one I'm sure," Breetai gave a small chuckle. "You have one on everything else."

"Well, m'lord…as I have told you before, our records **do** tell of a time long ago when something like this happened…Of course I was never able to understand how it **could** and it must be admitted that our prisoners shed very little light on the phenomena."

"Officers Rico, Konda and Bron seem to be at the centre of it," Breetai grumbled his brow furrowing. "I never would have expected them capable of leading a revolt."

"Indeed, m'lord, they **did** appear rather too…simple-minded to come up with such a thing." Exedore concurred.

"So as my advisor, Exedore, what should we do? Launch another attack?"

For a few moments Exedore was in deep thought, Breetai waited impatiently.

"Not quite yet m'lord," he finally answered. "For some reason I can't explain, I think things are coming to a head. We have not heard from the twenty-three suspected defectors aboard the fortress yet. I have feeling however, it will not be too long until we do."

* * *

"I'm thinking neither one of us should ever ask for pineapple or coconut again, it's just bad karma."

"Oh, don't be so ridiculous," Claudia looked over at him.

"Fine, next time **you** get the coconut," Roy shot back, then grinned, "after tonight, I'm sure no-one will ever try to take **you** on in a fight."

"If you don't let that drop…" Claudia began threateningly.

"OK, OK," Roy held up his hands, "I've got to say I've never known you to be shy about your skills."

"Yeah, well **I've** never attacked someone's fiancée with them either."

Roy shrugged. "It could have been worse…" his smile widened, "you could have accidentally attacked **me**."

Claudia gave him a warning look. "Don't push me, flyboy."

Roy made a show of looking petrified, but then leaned back against the couch. "Well, are you going to sit down or do you have something to do?"

Grudgingly, Claudia sat down next to him, still looking miffed.

Roy put his good arm around her shoulders. "Seriously though, thanks for sticking up for me."

"Well, since I married you I figured I better make the most of my investment," Claudia replied, wryly.

"Well, hey, I still appreciate it."

Claudia finally gave a genuine smile. "Now, just promise me you won't run off like that again."

"It wasn't my idea, the Captain called me up, I couldn't exactly tell him to shove it." Roy protested.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Claudia reminded him, gently elbowing him in the ribs.

"Let me tell you, I'm not going back to the Brig again, especially considering what a fine setup you have here," Roy put his feet up on the coffee table, "you've cleaned it up nicely while I was recuperating."

"Well, I figured I may as well…after all **you** weren't going to." Claudia shoved his feet off the table.

"Hey, I resent that, I totally would have helped." Roy protested. "I can hardly be held responsible for some crazy woman attacking me, can I?"

"I don't know, Fokker, I can think of a **lot** of reasons to attack you right now."

Roy gave her a lecherous grin. "Oh, really? Sounds dirty." He took hold of her wrists and pulled her to him.

"If you think I'm that easy to distract –" Claudia began, but Roy cut her off with a kiss.

"I happen to **know** you're very easy to distract," Roy remarked when they finally broke apart.

"Hmm, well, **you're** just as easy to distract," Claudia murmured back, before pulling him in for another kiss.

* * *

"Oh my God, can you believe it?!"

"I **know**!"

"I'm **so **relieved, I'm **this** close to a nervous breakdown, I swear."

"Oh, please, Sammie, you're such a drama queen, you're doing great," Kim declared, patting her on the shoulder.

"Yeah, well, I want to get back to my old post if it's OK with you," Sammie returned, brushing back her hair and taking a sip of coffee.

"Yeah, and even better, Lisa will be here again!" Vanessa chimed, she picked up her cup, but then set it down. "I hope she'll get back all right."

"Ooh, don't even **say** that," Sammie chided. "It's too horrible to think about!"

"Don't worry," Kim assured her, "after what happened the first time, I'm sure the Captain will give her shuttle lots of cover this time."

"Do you think he'll send Lt. Hunter out to fly cover?" Sammie asked, looking thoughtful.

"Maybe, he did a good job last time, wouldn't you say? And it would give the Captain a chance to test out the new FAST packs some more." Vanessa speculated.

"I bet he'll volunteer though," Sammie continued, "don't you think he has a crush on Commander Hayes?"

"Lt. Hunter?" Kim burst out laughing. "Come on! He's in love with Lynn Minmei, everybody knows that! Remember they were trapped below decks for all that time."

"Yeah, but Minmei's all over Kyle," Sammie reminded her.

"Not that I blame her, I mean he's soooo hot," Kim sighed.

"They're **cousins**," Vanessa shook her head. "It's totally gross."

"I don't think they're real cousins," Kim shot back, "you're just jealous because **you** didn't get a crack at Kyle."

"I am not! Besides I've got Bron, and he's the sweetest."

"No, he isn't! Konda is! And the best looking too."

"You guys!" Sammie held up her hands for calm. "We were talking about Lt. Hunter and the shuttle mission!"

Vanessa leaned back in her chair. "Well, like I said, I don't think Commander Hayes would **ever** go out with him. I mean, come on, they can't go for two seconds on the tac net without a fight!"

"Opposites attract," Sammie reminded her.

"Oh that's such a cliché," Kim waved a hand dismissively. "And I don't even think it's true anyway. Konda may be a Zentraedi, but we have a lot of things in common."

"Yeah, you both like to talk about **you**," Sammie poked out her tongue at her friend.

"You take that back!"

Vanessa giggled. "Can't take the truth, hmmm, Kim?"

"You too!"

Before the conversation could deteriorate into one of the Bridge Bunnies famous spats, Claudia arrived at the table.

"What are you three hens clucking about now?"

"We're not clucking!"

Claudia folded her arms and gave them a dry smile. "Mmm-hmmm."

The Bridge Bunnies tried to meet her eyes, but ended up blushing and looking away.

"Now, we've got important work to do this morning, Lisa's coming back and we don't want anything to happen to her, do we?"

"No way!" The three replied in unison.

"All right then, so let's all enjoy our coffee before things get **too** hectic, huh? And pour one for the Captain, too."

* * *

Lisa clutched her briefcase nervously and looked around the small room.

_Is he going to come?_ She wondered.

She took a brief look out the window of the small outpost towards the runway. Snow was falling, but thankfully not heavy enough to make landing and taking off impossible.

Checking her watch she saw it was half past nine hundred.

Her palms were sweating and setting down the briefcase she wiped them on her uniform jacket.

_Where is he?_

She hadn't spoken to her father since the scene in the Brig yesterday, just thinking about it made her feel rather ill. She had meant what she said, but she felt terrible about what she said to her father, he **was** the only family she had left. The thought that he wasn't even going to come and say goodbye…

_But then __**I**__ didn't say goodbye the first time I left Alaska Base, _she reminded herself with a sigh.

The sound of the elevator arriving made her turn, and her heart lift with hope.

But it wasn't her father, it was an aide.

"Commander," he saluted her, "we've just received word that the shuttle from the SDF-1 is on schedule to arrive in 20 minutes."

She nodded and saluted back. "Thank you."

"Would you like something to eat or drink before you leave?" The aide inquired then, which Lisa found somewhat amusing. It was as if she were in a café instead of the most secretive of military facilities.

She shook her head. "I'm fine, thank you."

The aide saluted her again and left, informing her he'd be back to drive her out to the shuttle when it landed.

Left alone again, Lisa walked back to a window, watching the snow flurries.

She thought about her life, her relationship with her father as the minutes ticked by. They had had their differences most certainly, but they always seemed to forgive each other and come to an understanding in the end. This was by far the longest estrangement they'd ever had.

And Lisa knew the chances of her ever coming back to Earth were slim to nil…if she didn't see her father now…

Out of the snow she saw it, the shuttle coming in for a landing, she swallowed hard and moved her briefcase from one hand to the other and walked over to the chair where she had put her winter jacket.

It was time.

As the shuttle rolled to a stop on the tarmac, the elevator doors opened again. But it was only the aide, her father still hadn't come…

"Ready to go, Commander?"

Lisa swallowed again and blinked hard to stop the tears. She found herself unable to speak however and only gave a jerky nod.

"The United Earth Council wishes you a safe trip back to the SDF-1," the aide continued. "You have the messages for Captain Gloval?"

Lisa nodded again.

The aide saluted and gestured for her to follow and pulling on her coat Lisa headed out into the biting wind and climbed into the jeep.

One last time she looked over her shoulder at the outpost, hoping…praying…

But no-one else came.

The jeep headed towards the shuttle, away from Alaska Base.

_Goodbye, Father,_ Lisa thought, closing her eyes and letting one tear fall.

* * *

Khyron rubbed his hands together gleefully.

"Would you look at this, Grel, the micronians are giving us a little present."

Grel had only just arrived on the bridge, but it didn't take him long to figure out what his commander was talking about. The comm. screen was lit up with radar images and flight tracks. The micronians on Zor's Battle Fortress had sent one of those non-combat vehicles down to their planet, no doubt to pick up an important member of their race.

"They're stupid creatures," Khyron continued, actually licking his lips, "to attempt the same stunt twice. Do they believe **we** won't learn from our mistakes?"

Grel had a feeling that this was one of those times when he wasn't required to reply.

"Prepare the Botoru, the Sixth and Mardan Battlions," Khyron announced to the techs. "Let's see how this ends up, hmm…?"

* * *

Rick was particularly nervous, in fact he hadn't felt like this since his first sortie, all that time ago…

A few hours ago he had been awaken with the extraordinary news, Lisa was on her way back. At first Rick had thought it was some sort of a joke, a rather sick one, but considering it was coming from Roy…

Roy though had protested. "You'd think I'd joke about something like this, Little Brother? I'm shocked, I'm truly shocked."

Rick had apologised, but Roy had waved it off, telling him that Gloval had selected him to head up the security this time.

Rick still couldn't figure out if this was a good move or not…he might have managed to save Lisa the last time, but he had a bad feeling that if the aliens attacked this time, they weren't going to hold back. He and the Vermillion would be out numbered, FAST packs or no FAST packs.

The shuttle had entered the earth's atmosphere leaving the Vermillion to cover its exit. Rick looked over at Max's blue Veritech converted into Battloid mode like his own.

It had been quite a scene on the flight deck, when Miriya had shown up to see Max off.

As if the green hair wasn't enough, she had opted to wear something rather more feminine than before, a pink sundress, complete with a blue sash around her waist and blue sandals.

The flight deck had been full as usual with pilots making spot checks, but every single one of them had turned to gawk at her, opened mouthed.

Rick had been one of them, true, yesterday he had seen her wearing far less, but a hospital gown and Max's uniform jacket hadn't really done her justice.

Only Max and Rick knew about Miriya's alien status though, and Rick was pretty sure that reactions would have been quite different if that had been general knowledge.

When he'd realised he'd been gaping, Rick had made a show of looking over his plane for any missed damage, but out the corner of his eye he had seen Max sneak a quick kiss. The whole thing hadn't made Rick feel much better about how his life was going.

He noticed to how interested Miriya was in the Veritechs and admittedly, he had felt a brief stab of suspicion. If Miriya ever **did** go back the Zentraedi side she'd be able to inflict even more damage.

But as soon as it appeared, Rick dismissed it, Zentraedi or not, there was no mistaking the look in Miriya's green eyes and the smile on her face.

"Shuttle One to Vermillion One," a voice brought Rick back from his musings, looking at the left corner of his screen where the shuttle pilot's image had appeared. "The passenger is abroad and we will be making contact in zero-niner minutes."

"Roger," Rick responded, giving himself a mental shake, this was no time for daydreaming, he had an important mission.

Switching to the SDF-1 tac net, he asked. "No movement from the enemy fleet yet?"

Sammie's face, pale and stressful filled the screen. "None yet, Lt. Hunter…but Captain Gloval is sure they're planning something."

Rick nodded and looked about towards where the alien armada was currently massed, but there didn't seem to be anything going on there.

The minutes quickly passed, and the Veritech's radar picked up the dot that was the shuttle heading through the stratosphere for the rendezvous point.

"Look alert," Rick warned the team, "if the alien's are gonna attack, they're gonna do it soon."

The shuttle became visual and the Vermillion team converted back to fighter mode to escort it back towards the SDF-1 some forty minutes away, a lifetime when it came to war.

Rick was tempted to ask to speak to Lisa, but he decided against it, he needed all this concentration right now.

Twenty minutes passed, in the distance the lights of the SDF-1 twinkled into view. Rick's mouth was dry, his eyes darted from the radar panel to the space around him.

Still nothing.

Then suddenly…

"Attention Vermillion team! Radar detects three alien squads coming from relative zero-niner!" Sammie's voice was high and fast. "They'll make contact in less than minute!"

"I see 'em, Boss," Max spoke up, transforming into Battloid mode, Gatling gun in hand.

Rick saw them too, taking up almost the whole of his field of sight.

Swallowing hard, he converted into Battloid as well and called to the rest of the team. "Vermillion, protect the shuttle at all costs!"

Before the words had even left his mouth the three battalions let loose a volley of lasers.

The war was on once more.

* * *

Lisa wasn't exactly surprised when the Zentraedi attacked, but her heart leapt, her fingers tightening around the arm rests of the chair. As it happened a few weeks before, a protective shell closed around her, the claustrophobic atmosphere was immediate and the sounds of the pilots' communications with the security team cut off.

She wondered if her father was watching all this unfold on the long-range radar in the control room of Alaska Base and if he was, was he scared for her? Or did he just think she deserved what she got?

Lisa closed her eyes, praying that she would see Gloval, Claudia and the Bridge Bunnies again and of course…Rick…

The shuttle gave a frightful shudder, and despite her tightly fastened seatbelt Lisa was almost thrown against the metal shell that surrounded her.

No sooner had she regained her balance then the shuttle shuddered again. Fumbling with the communicator speaker in one of the arm rest, she called. "Airman Andrews, what's going on?" It was hardly military protocol, but she really didn't care.

There was no answer, and the shuttle didn't just shudder now, it started rolling and then the gravity went out, the communicator slipped from her hand and began to drift about listlessly. She tried to grab it back and at the same time set the controls to radio frequency hoping to get into contact with the SDF-1, but just as she was about to reach it, the lights gave out.

The darkness was total, she couldn't even see her hand in front of her face.

There was only one thing left to wonder about now.

When would the life support systems fail?


	34. Chapter 34

"_The greatest thing you'll ever learn_

_Is to love and be loved in return."_

Unforgettable with Love,_ Natalie Cole_

_

* * *

  
_

"Lisa!" Rick yelled, bringing his Battloid around so quickly, he almost sent the Veritech spinning out of control.

The swarm of Zentraedi mecha had cut the Vermillion Team off from the shuttle and Rick had watch, horrified as an Officer Pod sent a volley of cannon fire into the shuttle.

He knew for certain that the two pilots up front hadn't survived, the cockpit of the shuttle had been blown out, debris was floating everywhere.

But Lisa…

_Please, no!_ Rick prayed, dispatching a pod and trying to get back to the shuttle, he had no idea what he was going to do exactly, push it the remainder of the way to the SDF-1 perhaps. The ship seemed so close, but as far as the Vermillion Team were concerned right now it may as well have been on the other side of the galaxy.

Rick was dimly aware of poor Sammie shouting out from the comm. screen as well as the blaze of fire from his port that indicated where Max was, but his focus was squarely on the shuttle, or what remained of it.

And that Officer's Pod.

With a flash of insight, Rick knew more certainly than he had ever known anything that it was the Zentraedi he had come face to face with way back when Max (and Ben) were just starting out. The same one who attacked the shuttle the first time…

_That son of a bitch_, Rick clenched his jaw and narrowly avoided a pod, wanting to conserve the FAST pack missiles, he wanted to use those to finally wipe the Zentraedi who sat inside the Officer's Pod off the face of the universe. Especially if he'd killed –

Rick pushed that thought out of his mind, the body of the shuttle was relatively intact, there was still a chance.

"Sterling, Hart, Gleeson, Roberts cover me," Rick ordered, "I'm going to attempt to get the shuttle."

He didn't wait for confirmation that his orders had been received or even if the rest of the team (excepting Max) was still out there. He made a mad almost suicidal dash, converting back to fighter mode, dodging and weaving the pods and the laser fire.

As he neared the Officer's Pod he aimed for the cannon on top of its cockpit and sent a stiletto missile right at it.

The missile struck home, the cannon exploded, and the top of the red cover of the cockpit shattered.

The Officer's Pod whirled around to face Rick, the shuttle forgotten, bringing its 'arm' cannons to bear on him.

But Rick dodged out of the way, converting to Guardian to make a sharp turn and bringing his Gatling gun to bear on the Pod.

The Zentraedi pilot was as good as Rick remembered though, dodging his blasts as well, but at least it got him away from the shuttle.

"All right," Rick growled, narrowing his eyes in concentration he brought the targeting bullseye on the heads-up display as close to the Officer's Pod as he could. It was time to put the FAST pack missiles to use…

* * *

Khyron grunted with anger.

_Damn micronian!_ He swore, glaring at the mecha that had ruined his fun. He had been planning to shoot apart the non-combat vehicle for the sheer thrill of it, certain that three battalions he had as back up would keep the other micronians at bay.

But this one, with the red and white painted mecha had somehow come through and blown off his main auto-cannon.

Narrowing his eyes, Khyron realised he'd met this one before…more than once in fact.

"A clever little insect," Khyron growled to himself, "well, this time your luck has run out."

He brought his 'arm' cannons to bear on the micronian mecha, arcs of laser fire streaked through space.

But the micronian dodged every one of them, and then from the strangely shaped pods on the back of the mecha a barrage of missiles suddenly swarmed out, converging upon him.

Khyron's eyes widened, and with a shout he hit the throttle, rocketing away towards a new vector so quickly he almost tore his Pod apart.

Somehow he managed to dodge the micronian's salvo, but not the micronian himself, who as the explosions of the missiles died away, was on his tail.

But Khyron was always up for a challenge and after so many lons of inaction, now this was what it meant to be Zentraedi. Combat, bloodshed, victory…

* * *

Captain Gloval was on his feet, standing behind Vanessa at the threat board trying to interpret the mass of dots that had overcome the shuttle and scattered the Vermillion Team.

"Airman Andrews, Airman Ryan come in, please," Gloval heard Sammie's pleading voice. "Report your position."

Gloval shook his head, the shuttle was the most easily identifiable of the dots on the threat board and the way that dot was moving…he knew that there was no-one manouveering it in that manner.

"Claudia," Gloval turned towards her, "is there any possibility of firing on the bulk of the alien attack groups?"

Claudia entered some inputs into her console, then shook her head. "They're too far, Captain, it's too risky."

"Damnit," Gloval snapped, wishing there was something he could punch. It had always been a possibility of course, that the Zentraedi, or at least that rogue group that was always ready for a fight would attack the shuttle. But he had hoped…

"Lt. Hunter," Sammie was saying now, "please give us your status, over."

There was no response, but Gloval managed to pick out the dot that was Hunter's Veritech, it was engaged closely with another dot, its signature was of an Officer's Pod.

"Sammie, Hunter won't be able to answer," Gloval looked over his shoulder. "See if you can get into contact with Lisa, her seat is supposed to be equipped with a radio communicator."

Sammie nodded and began calling for Commander Hayes, but Gloval wasn't surprised to hear no response.

Tugging on his uniform collar Gloval considered his options, he could of course send out more squadrons to take on the aliens, but there was a risk that in doing so the Zentraedi armada would send out reinforcements of their own. Though there was no evidence, Gloval was sure that the SDF-1 was the only thing that was keeping the Zentraedi from destroying Earth, he couldn't risk its pilots, he may need them…

Only the Vermillion Team could save Lisa…

He closed his eyes briefly and prayed desperately that he wouldn't lose the finest of First Officers and a good friend this way.

* * *

Not used to being off-duty for so long, Roy had been unable to stay away from the lower decks of the _Prometheus_, particularly considering that Rick was out there.

Roy wanted to be there too, there was a knot of fear in the pit of his stomach. He wondered would he see his Little Brother again? Could this be the battle…?

Standing at the observation deck of the aircraft carrier he watched the far off explosions. His eyesight was incredibly good, but he certainly couldn't make anything definite out there. Except that the shuttle and Lisa were probably in deep trouble.

Roy was surprised at the sound of footsteps behind him, and he looked over his shoulder, slowly, his shoulder still sore after all.

It was First Officer Parina, looking very different indeed from the last few times he'd seen. If not for the fact she'd tried to kill him a week ago he probably would have engaged in a bit of harmless flirting.

First Officer Parina looked surprised to see him there, and rather uncomfortable, not able to look him in the eye.

Frankly, the whole thing was awkward as Hell and Roy decided to return his attention back to the battle unfolding.

There was a cough and then First Officer Parina spoke.

"Are…are the micronian forces winning?"

Roy was surprised that she would speak to him. _I guess it goes to show how serious she is about Sterling_, he decided, and sneaking a quick look at her answered.

"Can't really tell from here, it's not looking too good if you want to be honest."

First Officer Parina actually looked stricken. "You do not believe Maximillian will return?"

"Well…I don't know about that, you can't underestimate the Vermillion Team," Roy replied.

"No…you micronians show remarkable courage under fire," First Office Parina remarked. "Why is that so? We Zentraedi are bred for war, but you micronians…You are **born**, you grow up in this society of yours, where fighting is not encouraged, why…**how** do you battle so well?"

Roy gave a small one shouldered shrug. "It's probably because of that, we have a lot to protect, to fight for."

"We Zentraedi fight to protect our mecha, our resources…we fight for the Robotech Masters," her voice was low, almost as if she was speaking to herself.

"Well, I'd be lying if I said we didn't fight to protect material things sometimes…but even then it's to protect those we don't fight, the people who can't, the people we love."

It seemed extremely odd to be talking about all this not only with an alien, but with the one who had tried to end his life. _Does she even know what I'm getting at…? _He wondered.

He caught First Officer Parina's reflection in the observation window, she looked confused, but the slowly a look of realisation seemed to come across her face.

"Love," she spoke the word slowly, almost reverently, "I understand now."

* * *

In the midst of the battalions of Zentraedi mecha, Max was in his zone, but he knew that the rest of the team wasn't doing as well and the shuttle…

Out the corner of his eye he saw it drifting lazily, the only proof that someone up there was looking out for the human side was that none of the aliens were attacking it. Rick successfully had the Officer's Pod that had inflicted the damage on it, in the first place, on the run and the rest of the aliens were busy fighting Max, Hart, Gleeson and Roberts.

The ranks of Zentraedi were thinning, but with so many of them the odds were still against the Vermillion.

A voice penetrated the zone Max generally found himself in while fighting, it was Lt. Porter, trying to get into contact with Commander Hayes.

"This is Lt. Sterling," he spoke up, as he dodged the laser fire of three pods. "The shuttle has been severely damaged, both pilots are dead, I'm not sure of the status of Commander Hayes. The shuttle isn't under fire at the moment, we'll try to bring it in."

Max didn't hear what Lt. Porter said in reply however, because five of the pods decided to attack him at once, thinking that would better their odds.

It didn't.

As Max flew through the debris left, he thought of Miriya and the fact that he was killing members of her race. He knew that she would probably understand, perhaps she would not even care, but he didn't know that for sure and apart from anything else after Miriya and the defectors, killing Zentraedi seemed more and more like killing humans.

_If only there was some way to end this war,_ Max thought, shaking his head. _A way to stop the endless killing…_

_

* * *

  
_

"Three battalions lead by Lord Khyron are attacking a micronian vessel," Exedore advised Lord Breetai, who had just returned to the Bridge.

"Khyron," Breetai rumbled, his one eye narrowed.

"The attack is taking place nowhere near Zor's Fortress, m'lord," Exedore felt the need to point out, though he didn't really feel as if he owed Khyron any favours. "Obviously, Lord Khyron is participating in a bit of amusement."

"Hmmm…perhaps not such a bad idea, this lack of combat cannot be good for our troops can it, Exedore?"

Exedore was somewhat surprised by the question, having not really considered it, which was strange because it had been some lon since the fleet had attacked in any numbers. It occurred to him at that mil just how unlike the Zentraedi way that was…in fact, he didn't think it had ever happened before, at least not in his memory.

"Should we send reinforcements, m'lord?" He asked, deciding that his Commander had made a very good point. "Lord Khyron does appear slightly overwhelmed."

Breetai grinned, appearing amused. "I do believe Khyron can take care of himself, but it is time to plan our final strategy."

Exedore nodded.

"His Excellency seems to believe we no longer need to uncover Zor's secrets," Breetai continued after ordering the comm. screen transmission to end, he sat down in his Command chair so as to be able to look his Advisor squarely in the eye. "I disagree."

Exedore raised his eyebrows. "You are questioning His Excellency?"

"I believe that he is acting unreasonably given the circumstances…I doubt that the micronians have uncovered the secrets of the fortress either. Therefore capturing some of them, even high ranking ones will be pointless. We **need** that ship."

"The micronians do not seem to be willing to give it up," Exedore felt the need to remind him. "We have threatened them with destruction and they have called our bluff."

"They have…but there is something we have overlooked, the planet…" Breetai brought his fingers together and looked over them. "The micronians have fought to get back to it, I believe we were remiss in ignoring its importance."

"M'lord?"

"We have a million ships, not enough to destroy it all with one salvo granted, but we could certainly cause untold destruction."

Exedore nodded, but then cleared his throat. "But m'lord,what of the warning not to attack any micronian planet?"

"Those are rules given to us by the Robotech Masters, Exedore, His Excellency has made it clear we are not following their orders anymore." Breetai almost smiled. "It is time for some research, we will discover the most populated sector of the planet and threaten a co-ordinated attack unless the fortress is handed over to us."

Exedore had to admit the soundness of the plan. "I'll begin the techs on it immediately, sir."

* * *

Azonia watched the unfolding battle with undisguised glee, it was typical of Khyron, she had no doubt he had headed for that micronian vessel certain of his victory.

"But look at him now," she crowed to Yiata with a laugh. "Five of those mecha have all ready taken out at least half of his force. How soon until the revolt, do you think?"

Yiata raised her eyebrows, surprised to hear her Commander toss around the world 'revolt' so casually. It was not a word that Zentraedi took lightly after all.

"Should we not offer assistance, m'lady?" Yiata asked, it was standard to after all.

"Of course not," Azonia spat, "remember **I** am no longer in command, it is up to Lord Breetai to relay orders and since we have heard nothing…"

Yiata nodded, watching as Azonia leaned back in her command chair her eyes glued to the comm. screen. It seemed most unusual, for her to take such an interest in a battle she had no intention of entering.

_I wonder if the close quarters with the males are leading to this_, Yiata mused, it seemed that way to her. After all, in all her years as advisor the male and female Zentraedi had never remained in the same quadrant for such a long time. Even if communication was limited, it seemed to be having some sort of effect on them…on Lady Azonia in particular.

There was suddenly a loud beep and the image of Khyron's battle was interrupted, instead Exedore appeared on screen.

"M'lady," he greeted Azonia, bringing his fist to his chest in a brisk salute.

Azonia gave a small nod of acknowledgment. "Advisor Exedore."

"I have been instructed by Lord Breetai to gain information on the population centres of the micronian planet. I understand your radar equipment is in better condition than any of ours."

Azonia raised an eyebrow. "Is the Great Lord Breetai asking for my help?"

Exedore looked somewhat bemused by the question. "He is ordering you, m'lady."

Yiata expected Azonia to grudgingly agree, sign off the transmission and begin the radar sweeps of the planet. Instead her Commander looked thoughtful as if she was actually considering **not** following a direct order.

Suddenly Breetai appeared on screen. "Is there something wrong with the transmission, Lady Azonia?" He demanded, threateningly.

"Why no, Lord Breetai," Azonia replied, smugly, "I was only wondering if something was wrong at **your** end since you usually relay orders yourself…I see now that everything is in order. I will do as commanded."

Breetai didn't bother to respond except for a nod.

As Azonia gave orders to the techs, Yiata had the strangest feeling that her Commander had been testing Lord Breetai…but surely not, Zentraedi knew better than to question orders.

Didn't they?

* * *

Khyron gave a snarl of frustration. None of this was working out as it should.

He would never say it out loud, but the thought crossed his mind, briefly, that once again he had misjudged the micronians to his detriment.

The Botoru Battalion was holding firm, but the sixth had been entirely wiped out and the Mardan was going that way too.

He didn't know how they did it, but those five micronians simply wouldn't give up, they threw everything they could at the Zentraedi, all to protect one non-combat vessel that was probably doomed anyway.

**And they were winning.**

"Lord Khyron," a transmission came through from his ship, Grel appearing on the monitor.

"This isn't a good time," he growled, as he dodged the lasers of that cursed red and white mecha that he just couldn't shake.

"My Lord, we are receiving information from Lord Breetai."

Khyron bit back his response, which was to say he didn't really care, but Breetai **was** capable of picking up every transmission and he didn't have a death wish.

"We are been told to prepare for the final battle against the micronians," Grel informed him.

"Huh?" Khyron thought for a moment he'd heard wrong, Breetai finally ending this?

He was shocked enough that he almost lost his life.

"Damn these micronians!" He hollered, angrily, punching an all ready broken control panel before him. "Grel…we are returning to the ship, tell me the message when I get back there."

"Returning, m'lord?" Grel sounded surprise. "But –" He wisely cut himself off.

Khyron cut the connection and sent out a call to his men. "All units, return to ships, we've had our day with these micronians."

None of the surviving Zentraedi objected and with one last shot at that damn micronian who would not die, Khyron headed for his ship and the plan for ridding the universe of these micronians once and for all.

* * *

It was dark and cold and quiet.

She blinked her eyes rapidly, but that did not dispel the darkness. She tried to move her arms, wrap them around herself for warmth, but they seemed numb and at the same time weightless as if they were floating. She tried to speak, but her mouth was dry, so dry she couldn't make a sound.

But then there was a feeling of movement, Lisa couldn't figure out in what direction, but it was definitely somewhere.

She managed to give a small moan, but that was all, before her eyes shut again and the darkness became even more oppressive.

"Lisa," the voice sounded far away.

She had no idea how much time had passed, but she realised she was in a different place now. It was not as cold, but at the same time there seemed to be more space she felt like she could move her arms and legs…although she found that she couldn't.

"Lisa!" The voice said again, a male voice…

Her father…

Struggling she managed to open her eyes, and immediately the brightness of where she now was almost blinded her and she shut them again.

"She just blinked!" Another voice cried excitedly. "She's all right, she's going to be all right!"

"Ssh, Sammie, she's not deaf," a second female voice, so familiar, chided the first.

"Yeah, loudmouth," a third female voice added, and a fourth laughed.

"Please, ladies," the first voice said.

It wasn't her father…it was…

Lisa slowly opened her eyes. "Captain Gloval," she whispered through her cracked lips.

He came into focus, looking as he always did with his grey moustache and captain's cap pulled low.

Next to him was Claudia and the Bridge Bunnies, all of whom were smiling, and those smiles grew even wider when they saw her looking at them.

"Lisa!" Sammie cried, grabbing her right hand and squeezing it almost too tightly. "Lisa! I'm so glad you're back!"

"Don't break her hand, Sammie, honestly!" Claudia shook her head, leaning down to kiss Lisa's check. "But it is great to have you back here where you belong."

Vanessa and Kim each squeezed one of her hands, although not as tightly as Sammie had.

Finally Captain Gloval was left, and he gave a rather gruff cough. "Welcome back, "he finally said, reaching out and patting her shoulder.


	35. Chapter 35

"_So I just ask myself, when has life __**ever**__ made sense?"_ Remark attributed to Rick Hunter

* * *

Rick could hardly keep still…had after combat briefings **always** lasted this long? He didn't think so.

But Roy was up there, having met him and the team as soon as the Vermillion returned below decks, the battered and broken shuttle in tow.

There had been no chance to see what had happened to Lisa, medics had immediately swarmed over and Rick and the team had been herded into the debriefing room.

And here they were, Rick absolutely desperate to get to the hospital to see what had happened to Lisa…he thought about telling his Big Brother to hurry it up, or even just running from the room.

Then like an answer to his prayers, Roy wrapped up the debriefing just at that moment and with what was probably the sloppiest, quickest salute ever given by an officer of the RDF, Rick high-tailed it out of there, almost knocking down Miriya who was hovering outside the door waiting for Max.

He threw a quick apology over his shoulder, but didn't slow down, commandeering a jeep and taking off, tyres squealing in a manner that would have put Roy to shame.

Time seemed to stretch on forever as he drove down the streets of Macross City towards the Hospital, but in reality he made it there in record time.

The same woman was there behind the reception desk and looked rather surprised to see him yet again.

"Yes?" She asked as he came to a screeching halt in front of her.

"Commander Lisa Hayes," Rick said, breathless from the mad dash he'd made. "She was just brought in…"

The receptionist tapped on a few keys of her keyboard and then looked up. "She's here, but she's in Intensive Care right now, you can't see her."

Rick cringed, _Why does this always happen?_ He thought, wanting to scream, but he held back from doing so.

"I…that is…" he tried to come up with a reason, the only one he could think of was that he was Lisa's boyfriend or something…but there was no way he could say that. Apart from anything else she'd kill him…

If she was all right that was.

"This is really important," he finally said, "can't you…can't you tell me if she's all right, at least?"

The receptionist looked at his face and decided to take pity on him. "Give me a moment," she told him returning to her typing.

Rick tapped his fingers against his thigh, wondering how much longer he would have to wait –

"Commander Hayes's condition is reported to be fine," the receptionist finally remarked. "She was knocked unconscious and is suffering from low-grade hypothermia, but that's all."

Rick let out a breath he hadn't even realised he was holding.

"Thank God," he whispered.

Still he wanted to see her…

"I just need to get a drink of water…" he began.

If the receptionist suspected him of anything (and she'd be quite right to) she didn't show it, instead she just nodded and directed him down the hall.

Of course, Rick didn't go there, remembering the hospital layout from his own time there he quickly headed for the elevator bank intent on reaching the fifth floor where the ICU was located.

Since he knew where he was going none of the doctors or nurses questioned him, which was perhaps worrying considering…but Rick really didn't care right then.

Arriving at the doors to the ward, Rick looked about waiting for the hallway to be clear before sneaking in.

Before he could however, the double doors swung open.

"Rick!"

It was Claudia, Rick was so surprised to hear her voice he actually jumped a little.

It was not just Claudia though, behind her were Captain Gloval and the **Bridge Bunnies**.

_Oh great,_ Rick moaned inwardly, _this'll be out before we even we even leave the building._

"Lt. Hunter." True to form the Bridge Bunnies greeted him with giggles. Captain Gloval just seemed surprised to see him there.

"Lieutenant, to what do we owe this visit?" He asked, tugging at his jacket collar, his standard habit when deprived of his pipe.

"I…uh…that is…uh," Rick could barely make a sentence. He saw Claudia looking at him with a knowing smile on her face.

"Lieutenant Hunter is just showing the proper concern for a commanding officer," she spoke up, surprising Rick by her tactfulness.

"Ah," Gloval nodded.

Rick decided to jump on the reason. "Yeah! I mean, I know Li- Commander Hayes and I haven't always got on, but er…you know."

"Hmm yes," Gloval replied not looking as if he did.

"Lisa's asleep right now," Claudia told him, then looked at the Captain. "It would be all right for Lt. Hunter to visit her briefly, don't you think? After all he did provide cover."

To Rick's relief Gloval nodded, seeming not to see anything odd in the request. "Certainly, Hunter, but don't wake her, I want my First Officer back on her feet as quickly as possible."

Rick cleared his throat slightly nervously. "Of course, sir, no problem…" he even saluted.

The Bridge Bunnies cracked up laughing again, but Claudia hushed them.

"She's in room 504," she told him, pushing the door open to let him by.

Rick did gratefully, seeing as when it swung shut he could no longer hear the excited whispers of Sammie, Vanessa and Kim.

* * *

Max sat next to Miriya in the small off-duty room, he didn't really think it was a good idea to bring her into town and they needed all the quiet time they could to talk before the wedding. There was so much to explain…

"I spoke to the 'Skull Leader' today," Miriya told him, which surprised him. Sure Roy had said there were no hard feelings, but Max knew that that didn't mean they'd be best friends.

"When did you do that?"

"While watching you and your men in battle," Miriya looked thoughtful. "He explained a very interesting concept to me…why you micronians fight so well. I had always thought that this society of yours would hinder your abilities, but in fact it only heightens them. You must fight to protect your own kind, I'd never have imagined it."

Max felt just the opposite, but it was easy to understand why Miriya felt the way she did.

She reached out and took his hand, a gesture she seemed to enjoy almost as much as kissing. "You must tell me more about these customs of yours. You said we will live together once we are married, I have shared quarters before, before I became First Officer, but this will be different?"

_And how!_ Max cleared his throat a little nervously. He wondered how he would explain it all, after all there were several things about marriage that would be so far out of the Zentraedi experience…

He decided to start simple. "Well, uh…" he pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. "The most important thing is we'll be a team, we'll look out for each other, help each other out, be there when the other one needs us, that sort of thing."

"So we will remain together even during battle?" Miriya asked.

"Uh…" Max was somewhat taken aback, but then it would make sense that that would be the first thing Miriya would ask about.

There were of course, female pilots in the RDF, Max had never actually flown with any of them, but he knew the RDF wouldn't have any problem with Miriya signing up based on her gender.

But a Zentraedi…flying for **them** against her own race?

Max decided to side step that particular issue for now.

"Something like that, yes, but it'll be for the ordinary things too, preparing meals, cleaning up our stuff, you know."

"Hmmm," Miriya was somewhat intrigued by the notion of 'stuff'. Zentraedi had almost no personal items, except for combat medals, so the entire notion that one could have enough possessions to necessitate cleaning them up every so often really was something new.

"But I do not have any personal items, Maximillian," she suddenly said, frowning.

"Well…they aren't everything," he reassured her, "but hey, you do have some things, your new clothes for starters."

Miriya smiled, almost shyly as she brushed down the skirt of her pink dress. "I do like this particular article you chose for me, it is quite unlike anything I have ever worn, but…I enjoy it."

Max grinned, pleased to hear that, he had been a little worried that his choice was too feminine, after all a dress was probably as far away from the uniforms of the female Zentraedi as one could get.

"But what else?" He was startled by her voice. "There are other things about marriage, too, I have heard…to do with this…being **born** process micronians have." She was looking at him curiously. "How does this process work? What is involved?"

Max gulped.

_And here we go…_

_

* * *

  
_

Always a light sleeper even at the best of times, the sound of the door opening was enough to wake her.

Lisa suppressed an urge to groan in annoyance. No doubt it was a doctor here to check on her condition and she supposed she couldn't begrudge them that.

But, no-one took her wrist to feel her pulse or test her reflexes or shine a light in her eyes to test her pupils.

She considered going back to sleep, but curiosity got the better of her and she slowly opened her eyes.

At first her unfocused eyes couldn't make out who it was, but then…

"Rick," she whispered, her voice still dry and raspy.

Rick gave a jump of surprise. "Lisa, I…uh…" he backed away slightly, "I…er…didn't mean to wake you…"

"If it wasn't you, it'd be someone else," she assured him, letting her heavy eyes close, but then she opened them again. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

Rick looked surprised. "Well, why wouldn't I be here? I mean…you came and visited me when I was shackled up here."

It took a moment for Lisa to remember that occasion and when she did she couldn't help a small stab of embarrassment. She had really made an idiot of herself that day.

"Thanks for the thought," she told him.

"You're…OK then…I mean, I'm sorry that you got hit –"

Under normal circumstances, Lisa probably would have sat right up and told him how ridiculous he was sounding. But she was just too tired for that. "It wasn't your fault," she said out loud.

As soon as she said the words she felt a jolt of deja vu.

Rick had said almost those same words to her when **she** had apologised to **him**.

"And you saved my life, I'd wager," she managed a small smile. "How many times is that then?"

"Uh…" Rick gave a sheepish grin, "I didn't keep count."

Lisa gave a small laugh. "I'd say three."

"Well, I'm glad I did," Rick spoke and she was surprised at how serious he sounded. "I mean, where would we be without the SDF-1's most capable officer?"

He had meant it as a compliment she knew, but her heart fell a little at his words. _Don't be so surprised, Hayes, _she chastised herself, _why on Earth would he see you as anything more than _'Old Sourpuss'_?_

She didn't reply and he seemed to take it as a sign he'd overstayed his visit.

"Well…I better get going…I'm not even supposed to be here," he told her.

"Hmm, well that's no surprise," Lisa couldn't resist a jab.

She managed to get a smile out of him.

"I do value my life, you know, so I'll…uh…get out of your hair. Get well soon."

Lisa's eyes had closed again, but she sensed that Rick had stepped to the side of the bed. Her heart quickened…how was he going to say goodbye to her…

For the briefest moment she actually thought he would kiss her cheek, but instead he squeezed her hand gently.

"Sleep well," he said and left the room.

Lisa sighed and immediately fell back to sleep, all ready beginning to think the whole thing was just a dream…

* * *

Minmei wondered what she was doing…Kyle had said this was what needed to be done, but that didn't make her feel any less worried about it.

Nervous, she brushed her hair again, trying to steel herself, in ten minutes she was to go back out there and face Karen Frost.

For a moment she considered running away…but really what good would that do?

_It's not as if there's anywhere to hide on this ship,_ she reminded herself, _at least not for me._

Putting down the hairbrush, she fiddled absent-mindedly with the sleeves of the new dress Aunt Lena and Uncle Max had brought her for her birthday.

_Seventeen…I'm only seventeen,_ she told her reflection in the mirror, all the attention, all the fame, it was so bizarre…

But then this **was** her dream.

There was a knock on the door and then Kyle's voice. "Minmei, you better come out, you need to get fitted for your mic."

"Coming, Kyle," she called, surprised at how steady her voice was.

Patting her hair into place, she turned and left the room, Kyle was waiting for her just outside and he took her arm with a smile. "You look great…ready to take on the Icewoman?"

Minmei gave a small smile at the nickname, uncreative as it was and somewhat inaccurate, Karen Frost had been a perfectly nice person.

After everything she was quite use to the fuss as the sound crew and camera people rushed about. Vance stood near the director looking nervous, more nervous than her if possible.

Kyle was the very epitome of cool and collected as he helped her take her seat once she was hooked up to the mic and then he went to stand next to Vance.

"Well, here we are again," Karen Frost greeted her with a smile, sitting on the chair opposite with the grace of a long time on-air personality. "I hope it goes better this time."

Minmei nodded, she hoped so as well!

"All right," the director spoke briskly, "we're on the air, in five…four…three…"

Karen Frost spoke to camera one. "Good evening, SDF-1, here with us today for a second interview is the one, the only, Miss Lynn Minmei," she held her hand out towards Minmei, who gave her best smile to second camera.

"Good evening, Karen," she piped up, "it's great to be here. It's been longer than usual since I've spoken to my fans."

Karen nodded. "It certainly has, I don't think there's been a week aboard without mention of you since before the Miss Macross Pageant."

Minmei smiled, thanks to Kyle she knew this question was coming. "I did need a bit of a break…after my movie and the Birthday Concert…it was all getting a bit too much."

"I imagine so," Karen gave her a sympathetic look. "How did you spend your week off?"

"Oh, I spent it mostly with my Aunt and Uncle and my cousin, I love spending time at the _White Dragon_ restaurant."

"I imagine so, it's where you made your start in singing," Karen commented.

"It is," Minmei sneaked a quick look at Kyle, who nodded and gave her the thumbs up. "I made up my first song while watching my Aunt serve the customers," she giggled, "it was called _More Rice With My Order, Please!_"

There was an appreciative laugh, not just from Karen, but from the rest of the crew too.

"Do you think you could give us a demonstration?" Karen asked with a wink.

Minmei laughed and looked over at Kyle, who nodded. "Well, I guess since you asked nicely…"

* * *

Karita arrived back at base just in time to see the Minmei interview.

He had managed to make a good impression on the head workman while helping to repair doors during the reconstruction of the city (and had somehow not revealed himself as a Zentraedi) and had been invited to continue helping with odd jobs around the SDF-1.

All the Zentraedi crowded around the screen, on the edge of their seats. It had been over two lon since they'd seen her.

Mardul had saved a spot for him and squeezing next to his friend, Karita focused on the interview unfolding.

Minmei had got to her feet and a spotlight shone on her.

"This is going to be pretty awful," she warned, "I was only six or seven when I made it up."

Anything Minmei sung though enthralled the Zentraedi, even something as silly as what she did then.

"_More rice with my order please!_

_Did you hear me?_

_I work all day out there_

_And when I get here,_

_All I really need_

_Is more rice with my order, please."_

"Wow," Zerel, who was among those closest to the screen breathed, as if he had heard something completely out-worldly. "Do you think we should all get rice?"

The other Zentraedi all nodded in agreement and immediately went about pooling their money together. Ordinarily, the military provided their meals, from the mess, so getting something from a store in the city would be quite an experience.

Of course, Rico, Konda and Bron were on hand, the three micronian females been on duty and the twenty turned to them for help.

"How do we get this rice?"

"Do we need one of those non-combat vehicles to get there?"

"Should we wear anything special?"

Rico put up hand for quiet. "No, no, we don't have to leave here, we can 'order in'."

The Zentraedi looked at each other in interest, there was a completely new term to them.

"'Ordering in'," Mardul repeated, "what's that?"

"We can give orders here?" Another Zentraedi asked, eyes wide. "We're not even military anymore!"

"Wow, these micronians are great!" Another one cheered.

"It's not quite the same as the orders we used to give or get," Konda raised his voice to be heard over the chatter.

"It's just a micronian term that means we call the restaurant up and they'll bring the food to us here."

In some ways though that was even more amazing to the Zentraedi, who were still getting used to the wide range of micronian foods. Now to find out they could ask other micronians to **bring **it to them.

Bron offered to be the one who would called the _White Dragon_.

The Zentraedi crowed around him as he picked up the yellow communicator the micronians called a 'telephone' and dialled a number.

"_White Dragon_, please," Bron said, mimicking the way he had heard Sammie speak on her portable telephone device once.

It seemed he had it right, though, as the operator on the other end of the line did so.

"_White Dragon_," a female answered the phone, her voice reminded Bron of Minmei. "Can I take your order?"

"Yes, please…uh…rice for um…twenty-three."

There was a brief pause on the other end of the line and Bron wondered if he'd said the wrong thing. He had seen a few micronian movies involving this 'ordering in' technique, but perhaps he'd missed something…

"Rice for twenty-three…well…we should be able to do that, it'll be about an hour, though," the female finally spoke to Bron's great relief. "What sort of rice?"

Bron stared at the receiver. "What sort?" He repeated.

The Zentraedi all looked at each other and shrugged.

"Yes, we have plain fried or steamed, egg, spice, vegetable, Zongzi, Congee…" the female rattled off.

Bron was getting a bit of a headache, leave it to the micronians to have so many choices.

"Just the…uh…normal kind."

There was another brief pause. "All right, fried rice then, for twenty-three, that will come to a hundred dollars, where do you want it delivered to?"

Bron experienced a shot of panic when he was told the price. "Uh, just a mil," he told her, covering the mouth piece of the handset. "How much of that micronian money we got?"

Karita, who had proved himself adept at counting, went over it quickly. "I got fifty."

"That's only half of what we need," Bron informed them.

There were sighs of disappointment.

"I'll never understand this money thing…"

"Yeah, why do the micronians make it so complicated."

Rico held up a hand again. "Look, we're gonna get food from the mess anyway, we can all have a little bit of rice each, just so we can see what Minmei's talking about. Who knows, we might not even like the stuff."

The Zentraedi talked among themselves and then agreed this was a good idea.

Bron took his hand away from the receiver. "Er…we've only got fifty dollars here, so um…we'll just get that much worth of rice."

"OK then, we'll have it delivered to…?" She prompted again.

At that point Bron realised he wasn't quite sure **how** to describe where the Zentraedi were housed. He looked pleadingly at Konda, who had always had a decent sense of direction. "Any idea where we are? They need to know where to send the rice."

Konda, though, didn't have much of a clue either. "Just tell them big building near the gates on the base…they have to know where that is."

Bron relayed the information, which resulted in another pause from the female on the other end but finally she said. "All right then, it'll be about forty-five minutes."

"Thanks," Bron put the phone down, feeling a great sense of achievement, the micronian society was fun, but it sure was complicated.

* * *

Lena Lynn hung up the phone shaking her head. As soon as the man on the other end of the line had mentioned his location she realised why his ordered was so strange.

"Max, dear!" She called, coming into the kitchen, which as always at this time of night was crowded with chefs working feverishly.

Her husband looked up from a particularly complicated dish, the speciality of the house. "Hmm, dear?"

"We've just had a take-out order for fifty dollars worth of plain fried rice."

Max's eyes almost boggled. "Good lord! Couldn't they think of anything interesting?"

Lena walked over to him and spoke quietly into his ear. "It's the Zentraedi defectors."

"Oh," a look of understanding crossed Max's face, then he shook his head. "Still, you might have introduced them to the wonders of my Fish Soy Soup?"

"I didn't really think it was appropriate to make a sales pitch to them, dear."

"Hmpf…" Max grunted, but nevertheless yelled over his shoulder. "Fifty bucks worth of fried rice!"

A few of the chefs shared his confusion, but quickly got to work on the order.

"I was wondering, though, who should deliver it," Lena still spoke quietly. "After all, not everyone welcomes the Zentraedi."

"That's true…" he mused, then was thoughtful. "We could send Jason, he's not adverse to meeting aliens."

"Max," Lena gave him a good natured slap on the arm. "He's only eleven…and all ready in bed."

"Well, send Reiko…she doesn't pay attention to anything anyway, she wouldn't notice **who** she was delivering stuff too, even if those aliens were still their original size!"

* * *

Captain Gloval returned to his quarters, yet another shift up on the Bridge had finished and as was the case these days, he could only sigh in relief, particularly considering everything was all right up there.

The main Zentraedi Fleet was apparently still under orders not to attack the SDF-1 directly and thank God for that…

He sank into the armchair he had position in order to look out over the star field.

The SDF-1's position was one in which the Earth could be seen, a sight that was comforting, but at the same time depressing.

He thought of Lisa lying in the hospital, and then of her father, his old friend, Donald Hayes.

The two had been through a lot during the Global Civil War. Originally on opposite sides, Gloval, Russian by birth had fled that country to Italy, an ally of the US.

He had worked his way up the ranks of the Soviet Navy submarines, eventually becoming a Captain 2nd Class in charge of his own submarine. But it hadn't taken him long to become disillusioned with the way of life and so had fled and joined the ranks of the UN Navy.

Originally, he and Hayes had been closed, both dedicated to their duty and the men under their command. Gloval could still chuckle over the time he and Hayes had disobeyed direct orders so their soldiers could have decent food to eat.

But not long after the SDF-1 crashed on Macross Island, the friendship had gone awry, for reasons that Gloval still couldn't figure out. He assumed it had something to do with Hayes having lost his ship with all hands (excepting himself, who had been called off board when the radar picked up the massive electro-magnetic disturbances caused by the SDF-1 appearance), whilst Gloval on _USS Kenosha_ had escaped the tidal and heat waves intact with his crew relatively unscathed.

This was all in the past though, and Gloval knew it did him no good to dwell on it, sometimes friendships died and that was a fact that had to be lived with.

_But one shouldn't make innocent people suffer as a result,_ he thought, grimly as he lit up his pipe. He was sure that Lisa had suffered and not just physically. All Gloval could do was hope that Hayes felt as bad about what had happened to the shuttle as he did.

He turned his mind away from those thoughts to ones more pressing…such as the wedding he had, rather recklessly now that he thought about it, given permission to proceed.

He wondered, now, exactly what he was getting into. He, of course, didn't doubt Sterling's or First Officer Parina's – for that matter- sincerity, but actually going ahead with this Zentraedi-Human marriage…it **did** seem like a rather crazy idea…

_But maybe it will prove something, more than anything else that the two races are __**not**__ so different,_ he thought as he poured a small glass of wine. _And not just to those on this ship…_

And then an idea came to him…the perfect idea.


	36. Chapter 36

"_All you need is love." _Title of a popular 20th century song by _The Beatles_

_

* * *

  
_

Fireworks exploded from the decks of the _Prometheus _and _Daedalus_.

All across the SDF-1 there was a party atmosphere.

Nobody would have believed it only a few days ago, as it was there was still trepidation and even outright anger.

But all in all everyone aboard was caught up in the celebrations…it was the perhaps the biggest Wedding ever.

But after all it was also the first wedding between a human and alien.

In the middle of it all was Captain Gloval.

Pipe in hand and brow furrowed he watched the preparations as they were kicked up into overdrive.

Events Planner Extraordinaire (or at least that's what he styled himself as) Lincoln Metz was marching about shouting orders as confidently as any five-star Admiral.

"More chairs! Come on now, we've got a thousand people coming to this Wedding! I don't want a single one of them having to stand up!"

Workmen, among them the twenty-three Zentraedi defectors hauled about the chairs as fast as they could. It didn't help that Metz had changed his mind about how many should be in a row at least four times in the last ten minutes.

"Hey, you over there with the flowers! Spread them out more! We're trying to get a nice trellis effect here."

The harried looking florist, who had been so happy to be called upon by Gloval a couple of days ago to provide the flowers, was looking very regretful of her enthusiasm now.

Gloval took a long draw on his pipe and opened his mouth to tell Metz it would be in his and everyone else's best interests if he calmed down a little, but he never got the chance.

"Where's that baker?! Arnold! Where's the baker?! I want to see that cake! It **better** have been made to our specifications…this is serious, I don't want any layabouts ruining it." And with that Metz hurried off, yelling at Arnold all the way.

Gloval sighed and shook his head. _Why did I agree to preside over this?_

But as he caught sight of the Zentraedi fleet massed just out of firing range from the observation window he remembered.

Today was going to, if everything went according to plan, change the course of the entire war.

At that very moment a number of _MBS_ cameras were been set up, to get every single angle of what was to take place. Not only that but the camera men and directors were in contact with Claudia, up in the Bridge, who was making preparations to send out a wide-ranging broadcast signal. One that would be picked up by every communication and visual device within a thousand mile radius.

Elsewhere, the bride and groom were having last minute fittings of their clothing.

And of course the fireworks were going off and the Veritech squadrons, with Fokker leading for the first time since the attack were out there getting ready to make the most impressive of honour guards.

Gloval checked his watch. _Fifteen minutes to go._

_

* * *

  
_

"What's all this, why aren't our radars working?" Breetai demanded in annoyance, striding onto the bridge.

Exedore was all ready there, a strange long on his misshapen face.

"Well?! What is it?" He demanded when his advisor made no comment.

"It's a transmission, sir," Exedore replied, turning to look at his Commander over his shoulder, eyes wide. "From Zor's fortress."

For more than 120 lon no communication had been attempted with Zor's fortress and more than that, not once during the conflict had the micronians ever communicated with **them**.

"What are their demands?" Breetai demanded, then added somewhat curiously. "Though I cannot imagine why they would believe themselves to be in a position to make any."

"It does not seem to be a standard transmission, sir…it is **definitely** directed at our fleet, but they are not speaking to us. Rather…they seem to be showing some…strange sort of ritual." Exedore waved a hand at the comm. screen, which Breetai looked for the first time.

On the screen was footage of one of the 'arms' of Zor's fortress, which the micronians had added of their own accord.

On it was one of the micronians mecha, with what appeared to be two strangely dressed micronians inside.

"Surely they don't plan to attack us with that one mecha," Breetai mused, shaking his head. "What could they hope to achieve?"

But when the mecha was launched it made no move towards the Imperial Fleet, instead it followed a strange path that shot out from the bow of its launching vessel. It was a path of light, but it wasn't a weapon, at least it didn't appear to be, although it was made up of the amazing colours.

As the mecha flew down the path more micronian mecha appeared, but they did not make a move towards the Imperial Fleet either, instead they lined up, either side of the strange path of light.

"What -?" Breetai began, but cut himself off, it seemed useless to ask, Exedore was just as bemused by the whole thing as he.

The other micronian mecha had changed into the second mode and each lifted their guns, but instead of rounds of bullets, light shot from the muzzles of those as well!

It was so completely bizarre, Breetai wondered if perhaps the micronians, not used to prolonged warfare had buckled under a collective insanity. _Do they honestly believe we will be scared by this?_

He certainly wasn't afraid, but he was intrigued…instead of ordering the signal blocked, he continued to watch, not thinking that throughout the ships of his fleet just about every Zentraedi was also watching the spectacle.

* * *

"This is pathetic, I mean, what are these things for? Warfare, or bridal parties?"

"Shut-up, Gibson," Roy snapped, annoyed. He certainly hadn't missed his second-in-command while he had been off-duty, the man was a complete idiot.

_Well, maybe not an idiot…_ Roy decided, _but a complete pain in the ass._

He and Gibson were the last Veritechs in the honour guard for Sterling and Parina and Roy watched as the two of them completed the circuit of the SDF-1 and landed again on _Prometheus_.

"Lower Gatlings," Roy ordered, the guns weren't really manufactured for lightshows, and they were beginning to overheat rather badly.

The rainbow road faded away as well as the blue VF-D descended below decks.

"All Veritechs return to hanger bays."

Roy was surprised, though he really shouldn't have been to see Lisa's face in the corner of the comm. screen, looking pale and tired. _Then again, why let a little thing like almost getting killed get you down._ Roy thought, resisting an urge to roll his eyes, since she could certainly see him.

"Roger, Bridge," he said instead and headed back to his assigned bay.

Every pilot had been invited to attend the wedding, no doubt as a show of solidarity to Sterling. Which Roy sure didn't mind, although the same couldn't be said for a few members of the Veritech squadrons. Roy had had to break up a few tense stand-offs that threatened to escalated into full-blown fights, there were still plenty out there who'd rather be killing Zentraedi than making peace with them.

Roy could on one hand understand where they were coming from, there was not one soldier aboard who hadn't lost a close friend to the Zentraedi onslaught, Roy included.

On the other, grudges had to be buried, something humans should have learned during the aftermath of the SDF-1's arrival on Earth over ten years before.

Once all the Veritechs were in their assigned bays the pilots fell into line by squadron and at the command from, of all people, the events planner who had taken over the entire gig, they made an impressive, albeit embarrassing entrance.

"I feel like a complete moron," Gibson grumbled from beside him.

"What a change," Roy returned, dryly.

He was well aware of Gibson glaring at him, the man almost stopped marching to do so, but he obviously wasn't stupid enough to take him on.

The pilots took their assigned seats, Roy wishing he was sitting beside Claudia, or Rick, or even the events planner.

In fact, Colonels Maistroff and Caruthers might have been preferable.

* * *

Seloy's first instinct had been to demand the switching off of the broadcast that the micronians were forcing on the ships of the Zentraedi. Part of her sensed danger, some sort of trap…

Another part of her, however, wanted to keep watching, she had a strange desire to try and see if Miriya appeared in any of those images. She had been gone so long now, that the rest of the Quadronos had given up, certain that the greatest of them had finally met her end. The realisation had been a hard one, and Seloy had for once in her life had been relieved that there had been no call to combat. The past lon had been spent in drills and manoeuvres and attempts to boost the morale of the once proud group.

Now here they were crowded around the largest of the screens aboard the cruiser.

"What on earth is all that light?' Kazianna Hesh demanded from her position at the front of the group. "I can't see any strategic purpose to it."

"I don't believe the micronians know what strategy **is**," Vividine Chodra declared, tossing back her black hair. "They are hopelessly pathetic at warfare."

Seloy was pleased to hear them all in such good spirits, but wondered if perhaps she had overdone it with the morale boosting. _It will not do if they are __**too**__ over sure of themselves…_

She was about to comment on it, when suddenly there was a collective gasp from the Quadronos around her.

"No…"

"It can't be…"

"It **must**, we'd know her anywhere…"

All thoughts of strategy and micronian failings fled from Seloy's head as she stared open mouthed at the screen before her.

For who was on it, dressed in a long, cumbersome, utterly unwarlike outfit?

But Miriya Parina herself.

There was no doubt, her long green hair and bearing was the same as the Miriya Seloy knew. Despite the fact that there was a bizarre covering atop that green hair and a look in her eyes that Seloy had never seen before and could not identify.

In her hands, Miriya held some sort of…life form, not an animal, but plant matter. It had been nos since Seloy had seen a plant, and she could not for anything understand why Miriya would be carrying some.

And then…the most shocking of things happened.

Miriya had been walking, a stately pace, but now she stopped…

**Right next to a male.**

"What is she doing?!" Lolea Kren almost screamed. "That- that's a **male**!"

"Perhaps she means to kill him," Kazianna breathed, her eyes wide.

But when Miriya laid a hand on the male it was not to strike him down, rather it was to take his arm.

There was another gasp from the Quadronos.

"What-what is this?" Vividine groaned, there was a look of disgust on her face, but at the same time it was clear she couldn't tear her eyes from the transmission. "Seloy, did she say this was part of her spy mission…it is… it is horrible!"

Seloy could only shake her head.

Miriya and the male now walked together down an aisle, micronians sitting either side of them, males and females mixing freely.

It was the most horrendous thing Seloy had ever seen, had ever **imaged**. _It's some sort of…of __**torture**__…_ she decided.

But as the transmission closed in on Miriya's face, Seloy saw her look up at the male, with a smile on her face.

* * *

Max's heart was pounding with sheer joy and excitement, he caught Miriya's look and smiled back, albeit nervously. Never in his whole life had he expected to marry in front of so many people. He had always envisaged it more as a quiet service…

With Ben as his best man and the Dixon's…

Max mentally shook the thought away, he had of course invited Ben's parents, how could he not? He knew though, that they were not among the well-wishers.

But there would be time enough later to face the rupture of that relationship, right now he was about to cement a new relationship, surely the most important of his life.

"Going all right," he whispered in his bride's ear, it was a long walk down the aisle, even though they were only going down half of it together.

"Fine," she whispered back, then gave a surreptitious wink. "I am not wearing those ridiculous shoes, I put on boots instead."

Max suppressed a laugh, knowing the boots Miriya was talking about, heavy black ones, just imagining them under the frills and delicate lace of her dress.

Finally the two of them reached the stage, where in his dress uniform, cape and all Captain Gloval waited.

The Captain had been more than happy for Max and Miriya to write words of their own vows, in fact he had encouraged it. Max knew that the Captain was going to begin the service with his own speech to the Zentraedi fleet – which was to be translated over the airwaves by the Zentraedi spies. Max could only hope that his words too would speak to the aliens.

Captain Gloval smiled at them both before beginning. "Citizens of Macross, soldiers of the RDF and all watching us today, you are all witnesses to an event of great importance, of a magnitude that has never been seen by us as a species before. Today, two people are marrying, but not just any two people, a human and an alien." He paused, letting that idea sink in and Max could see that it was.

The Captain took a deep breath and then continued. "When we think of aliens we imagine a species so far removed from our own, one with attributes that we cannot possibly sympathise with. But we have discovered that this is not the case. Just before the ceremony today these two people had their blood tested and as a result I can stand before you and say that there is no significant difference between Zentraedi and human blood. We are, for all purposes, the same."

There was a collective gasp from just about all of the guests, there was but a select few who would have had an idea just how similar the two races were.

"This is not a war with a species we cannot fathom, that we cannot understand, it is a war with a species like ourselves. Humankind has fought amongst itself for our entire history, at the dawn of the new millennium just after this fortress arrived on our planet, we believed that we could turn a corner, and live peacefully with one another. But now we face a new challenge, to make peace with these aliens, who we thought of as monsters, but who are in fact more properly described as members of our own human family."

Silence had fallen over the cavernous room, everyone was hanging on the Captain's every word.

And Max could only hope not just on the SDF-1.

* * *

"What is this?" Khyron snarled sickened by what was unfolding on the comm. screen on the bridge.

But he was even more thrown off by the fact that Grel and the techs seemed intent on what was going on. It was disgusting and time wasting beyond that.

"Turn it off!" He ordered, furiously.

Grel jumped as if shocked that the Commander of the ship would be giving an order.

"We…uh...Lord Khyron…"

"Turn it off," he growled again in a dangerous tone, unable to believe the order had not been followed immediately.

The techs, who had seemed to be almost in a trance, seemed to shake themselves out of it and the comm. screen faded away.

"Uh…I…uh…" Grel gulped, tugging on his uniform collar to loosen it.

"That was a transmission from the micronian ship," Khyron began, rather unnecessarily. "Why were you so intrigued by it?"

"I wasn't! That is…uh…"

"Are **you** finding something that…interests you in the micronian society, Grel?" Khyron's eyes were almost narrowed into slits.

"No, no…I…uh…"

"And what of the rest of you?" Khyron shouted down to the techs.

"We were just -" began one.

"It was an accident, Lord Khyron –"

"The transmission was on all frequencies and –"

"Quiet, the lot of you!" Khyron demanded, clenching a fist. "Grel, that was First Officer Miriya Parina."

Grel gulped again and gave a jerky nod of his head. "Yes, Lord Khyron."

"**Why** is the self-proclaimed ace pilot of our fleet standing next to a male micronian?"

Grel had no reply.

But Khyron hadn't really expected one, instead he turned back towards the techs and pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Turn the transmission back on."

"Uh…what?" Grel blurted.

"Do it!"

The techs jumped to do so and the comm. screen reappeared, showing yet another close up of the micronian male and First Officer Parina.

_Could it be?_ Khyron thought to himself, recalling how some lon ago now he had had quite the confrontation with that overbearing, overconfident female. It had not be anywhere near as satisfying as fights with Azonia, but his final words to Parina on that occasion still brought a smile to his face.

"_I'm telling you, my experience shows that the micronians possess but one superb pilot! One even __**you**__ cannot best!"_

There had been rumours that Miriya Parina had **indeed** come up against that pilot and been defeated…going so far as to be micronised and sent to Zor's Fortress.

_And this is where she has ended up?_ Khyron mused, but felt ill as onscreen First Officer Parina reached out an actually **took the male's hand**.

"Ugh!" He groaned, and turned away. "Disgusting!"

Grel looked pale and the techs also looked stunned.

"Cut the transmission, I've seen enough," Khyron ordered, not turning back until the comm. screen had gone.

"So then, the micronians have managed to defeat the ace pilot of the Quadronos hmmm…?" He folded his arms. "No doubt she is now been tortured by them." He laughed, cruelly. "And if it is sickening for **us** to only watch it I imagine **she** is suffering beyond measure." Khyron's grin widened even further. "How…**unfortunate** for her."

* * *

Lisa blinked, realising for about the tenth time she had almost nodded off. Perhaps the Captain and Claudia had been right…she **wasn't** ready to return to her post.

_But what else __**is**__ there for me?_ Lisa asked herself, shaking her head to chase the sleep away. _If I wasn't here I'd be part of the ceremony and I just don't think I could take that._

Not of course, that she wasn't, like everyone else on the Bridge glued to the transmission of the wedding.

"Do you think the alien fleet is picking this up?" Kim spoke from her console.

"They should be," Claudia remarked over her shoulder, "we've just got to hope they're finding it interesting enough not to switch off."

"Well, they certainly aren't moving to attack us," Vanessa switched over to the threat board quickly before changing back to the video transmission of the wedding on her giant screen.

"Oh, I hope it stays that way!" Sammie put her hands together. "Maybe then we'll get off duty earlier enough to be able to go to the reception."

"Always got your mind on the important things, huh, Sammie?" Kim asked, poking her tongue out.

"Hmpf! You wanted to go **too**, especially when we saw the cake-"

"Hey, come on now," Claudia held up her hand for silence. "This is an historical event, we should be listening to what the Captain's saying."

The Bridge Bunnies fell silent and turned their attention back to the transmission.

Captain Gloval had finished up is inspiring speech, one Lisa hoped her father was listening to back on Earth not to mention the rest of the idiots on the UEC.

"Lt. Max Sterling and First Officer Miriya Parina will now exchange vows written by each of them to express their feelings on this day. Feelings that all of us here assembled will known and appreciate."

Max went first, Lisa gave a small smile at the nervous look on his face as he glanced briefly towards one of the cameras then just as quickly looked away, back to Miriya.

"Um…well…Miriya, before I even met and talked to you face to face, I knew you were someone I wanted to meet. It never even occurred to me that you might be one of the enemy, and when I found out you **were**, I didn't know what to think…But I knew that I couldn't just turn away from the feelings I had for you. I didn't think of you as alien, only as someone I wanted to get to know, to be with. Miriya, I promise that that will always be the way I'll see you, as someone, not the enemy, not an alien. I promise to be there to support you and help you. Most of all I hope that you will take me as I am, because I'll take you as you are."

"Awww," Kim sighed, putting her clasped hands to her heart. "How romantic! I want **my** husband to give a nice speech like that to **me** on our Wedding day!"

"Better start saving to pay him off now," Sammie teased and Vanessa burst out laughing.

Kim frowned and then poked her tongue out. "Shut up."

"Girls," Claudia said warningly, then looked over at Lisa and gave a wink. "It's like babysitting, isn't it?"

Lisa managed a smile, but secretly she agreed with Kim, the idea of having a romantic speech dedicated to her was something she would **definitely** love.

She suppressed a sigh. _Keep on dreaming, Hayes_, she told herself, rubbing her forehead since she felt a headache coming on. _Maybe one of them will finally come true._

_

* * *

  
_

Miriya Parina had never been more excited and anxious in her life…no battle or medal honour could compare with this.

Across from her was Maximillian, who had just read to her a speech that only fifty lon or so ago would have sickened and angered her. But now…

Although, she had to admit she wasn't sure how she felt about having such a wide audience observing the ceremony. Maximillian certainly hadn't explained a wedding to her like **this**.

But of course, hearing the Captain's speech told her that this was something special and knowing that gave her the courage to speak words that no Zentraedi had ever or could ever have imagined they would speak.

"Maximillian, I will." She spoke strongly, thinking of the fact that her former squadmates, the Quadronos would be watching this. Briefly she wondered what they'd be thinking, probably that she had lost her mind or been brain washed…

But she found she didn't really care, all she cared about now, was Maximillian, who had broken into the widest smile at her acceptance of his vows.

"As a Zentraedi, I have never known love and I know that I don't know everything about it yet. But there is no one else I would rather discover these things with then you." She brushed her hair back nervously and with a quick glance at those assembled continued.

"I'd also like to say something to everyone who is listening and watching this…I was once the finest pilot of the Quadronos, the greatest of the Zentraedi combat squads. I gloried in the thrill of battle, in victory and in killing. It is in fact why I came aboard this vessel. But Maximillian has shown me in short time that there is much more to living then killing. That is why I am here beside him and why I will always be so. This I vow."

Maximillian was smiling at her and he squeezed her hand, she squeezed back and then turned to look directly at one of the many cameras that were in the room.

Drawing a deep breath she spoke in Zentraedi, a speech she had not planned on making, but now she felt she had to. "I speak to all Zentraedi, I am sure you are watching and I am sure you are thinking I have been brainwashed, or tortured into saying these things. I have not. It is **you** who have been brainwashed, by the Robotech Masters, by those in High Command. I have no doubt that you will all be ordered to attack the micronian ship, perhaps even to destroy it. I urge you, though, to **think **about what you are doing, what our warring nature brings us before you do."

There were gasps from the twenty-three Zentraedi in the crowd, the only ones aboard who understood her words.

_Except, of course, for those in the fleet,_ Miriya thought, turning her head to look out the observation window, where the Imperial Fleet stood, as threatening as ever.


	37. Chapter 37

"_Let there be peace…  
And let it begin with me."_

A lyric written by Seymour and Jill Miller

* * *

Lynn Kyle was extremely uncomfortable.

But it wasn't because the wedding was between a human and an alien, it was because of the **identity** of the bride and groom.

_One's a killer of humans and the other is killer of aliens __**and**__ humans,_ he thought sourly, folding his arms. _Great difference._

But Minmei had insisted on coming when she'd been approached by one of Captain Gloval's aides to provide entertainment for the reception.

He had tried to talk her out of it, of course, not just for pacifist principles either. There was the fact that in a number of quarters the Zentraedi-human marriage wasn't being very well received.

Kyle was pretty sure that Minmei would gain no fans doing this and to top it all off **he** had to be here too, which was all the more grating.

The only good thing was that someone had had the decency to seat him and Minmei on the opposite side of the room to the warmongering pilots. Still the sight of all of them in their uniforms was almost enough to make him ill.

As Sterling and the Zentraedi exchanged a kiss, Kyle heard Minmei sniffle and turned to see her dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.

"Oh come on, Minmei," he whispered in her ear, "they're nice words, but that's all they are."

Minmei frowned. "Oh, Kyle, don't be such a cynic. They love each other!"

Kyle wasn't sure about that, though he supposed the new couple looked happy enough as Captain Gloval introduced them as "Second Lieutenant and Mrs. Sterling."

But of course, the military had to make their presence felt as ever, by arranging to have Sterling's squad mates do a guard of honour.

"They have swords now," he hissed at Minmei, "that makes me feel **so** secure."

To his annoyance, Minmei shushed him putting a finger to her lips.

_She just doesn't get it,_ he leaned back in his seat however to let her get a better view. _All the glamorising of the military and their weapons…all the while sprouting out platitudes about peace. They're all a bunch of damn hypocrites._

Still, as much as he wanted to leave, he couldn't, after all, Minmei had no intention of going and he had to keep an eye on her. She was just no good in front of the media when she was by herself.

_The things I do for that girl._

* * *

Rick's palms were sweating, he wasn't sure how he'd been talked into this, but he was sure that Roy had been involved somewhere.

_That's right,_ Rick remembered sourly, remembering yesterday when Roy had taken him aside to tell him about this whole Guard of Honour thing.

"It's just the thing to do, Little Bro," Roy told him, handing over his ceremonial sword. "Besides it's fun."

Rick wasn't sure about that, he didn't particular relish swatting an Ace Zentraedi warrior on the rear end even if it **had** all been explained to her.

Across from him Joseph Hart, Max's wingman didn't seem to have a problem with any of it, and gave Rick a wink the signal for the two of them to cross swords to block the couple's way.

"You know the rule," Joseph said with a laugh, giving Max and Miriya a sharp salute.

Max blushed, pushed his glasses up on his nose and then shrugging turned to plant a quick kiss on his new bride's lips.

"It is a rule to kiss now?" Rick heard Miriya ask, which at least brought a smile to his face.

Max shook his head, then whispered in her ear, hopefully another warning about the whole swatting thing.

He and Joseph raised their swords again and the couple proceeded through.

_Well, here goes…_

Rick almost lost his grip, which would have made everything a whole lot worse. As it was he ended up squeaking. "Welcome to the military, ma'am!" which earned a few laughs and made him wish there was a hole he could crawl into.

Luckily, Miriya took it in good humour, turning around she pursed her lips and looked at him thoughtful. "I look forward to bestowing the same gesture on **you** at your wedding ceremony."

This made the whole of the Vermillion team and quite a few in the crowd who were sitting close to the honour guard crack up.

Rick shut his eyes. _Why does this happen to me?_

"Watch out," Joseph gasped between his laughter. "Who knows how Zentraedi handle swords?"

"Yeah, yeah," Rick grumbled back, relieved that everyone had risen from their seats to watch the bride and groom continue on their way.

The pushy Events Organiser had commandeered the microphone from Captain Gloval.

"All right, all right, if everybody would like to move in an orderly manner towards the double doors on the right – that is **my** right – you'll be at the reception hall. Wait to be assigned to your seats, if you please."

"Geeze, that guy needs to take a tranquilizer," Gleeson whispered as the Vermillion team lead the way as the crowd began to vacate their seats in the direction Metz indicated.

"Times like this I wouldn't mind one myself," Rick muttered under his breath.

He was slightly startled when a hand fell on his shoulder, but it turned out to be Roy who had caught up with him.

"Good work, Little Brother, I had no idea you were working on a Bee Gee's impersonation."

"Oh, shut up."

"Seriously though, even if I've never seen a woman in an Honour Guard before I reckon we better change the rules…it'll be worth it just to see Mrs. Sterling swat you one."

Rick was considering retorting with something particularly rude, but one of Metz's minions appeared right then and rather pushily directed them to a table in the far corner.

So, he, Roy and the rest of the Vermillion ended up with a palm tree blocking their view of the happy couple.

"I'm glad they remembered who the groom flies with, huh?" Roberts craned his neck to look around it.

Rick, though, couldn't say he was too disappointed, besides from where he was sitting he was able to see Minmei, Max and Lena Lynn and unfortunately Kyle clearly. They had, of course, been given the best table in the house after the bride and groom.

"Hey, isn't that Minmei?" Gleeson suddenly asked, pointing over Rick's shoulder.

"Yeah," Rick replied, adding, "and don't point."

Gleeson grinned. "Sorry, Ma."

"It's rude," Rick objected annoyed. _Not to mention the fact she might look over and see I've got someone acting like an idiot sitting next to me._

"Yeah, yeah, but hey, what do you think she's gonna sing? I heard she's been working on a new song." Gleeson moved on.

"They always say that," Roy rolled his eyes. "And most of the time it's just that they've added in new intro."

Rick didn't really care **what** Minmei sang, he just wished he could think of some reason to talk to her. It had been **months **since they had. _Just after...Ben died,_ he realised, suppressing a sigh. He knew Max had probably thought of Ben himself, the big fella would have enjoyed something like this, he was sure. And he probably would have just charged over to where Minmei was sitting and greeted her.

But Rick certainly couldn't do that and not just because an army of waiters was already swarming about laying a choice of either steak, chicken or tuna in front of each of the guests.

_Another chance lost,_ he supposed as one of them blocked Minmei from his sight.

"Hey," Roy whispered, poking him in the arm. "Can we trade? I hate tuna."

* * *

The transmission had ended but what had been said in it still had Azonia completely stunned.

At some point during the micronian ritual, Azonia had all but collapsed into her command chair, the sight of Miriya Parina had been so unexpected.

Yiata, pale herself stood next to the chair.

"M'lady?" She finally managed.

"Brainwashed," Azonia repeated, recalling Miriya's personal message, "**brainwashed**? **Us**? She speaks out against the High Command, against the Masters themselves." She shook her head. "It is unbelievable! What could those micronians have done to her?"

Yiata was at a loss.

"Commander Azonia," one of the techs called faintly, "we're receiving a transmission…from Second Officer Seloy."

It took Azonia a moment to remember who that was, so disorientated she had been, but then she did.

"Patch her through."

She got to her feet as the red haired Zentraedi appeared looking pale and shaken.

"Commander Azonia," Seloy greeted with a somewhat half-hearted salute. "I..." she trailed off, looking about rather hopelessly.

"Do you know the meaning of this, Second Officer Seloy?" Azonia folded her arms, tapping her fingers nervously. "First Officer Miriya went aboard the micronian vessel to defeat a micronian who bested her. Now we find her participating in a degrading ritual that involves…**touching**…a male micronian and claiming to no longer want to fight with her race."

Seloy shook her head. "I cannot understand it, m'lady. There were the male defectors, of course," she swallowed, but there was none of the gloating that usually accompanied comments about male failings. "But…a female…"

Azonia shook her head, she didn't want to hear anymore about it. "Dismissed," she said waving a hand and turning away before the screen could even be turned off.

"Yiata," her aide looked at her in surprise. "I want to speak to Breetai, and I want to do so now. I don't care if he is blocking our transmissions, find some way around it."

Yiata appeared ready to object, but thought better of it when she saw the look on her Commander's face.

"Yes, m'lady," she saluted and quickly turned to issue instructions to the techs.

Azonia chose to pace, her thoughts a whirl, for the first time in all her nos she had no idea what she was facing in the enemy.

* * *

"Well, Exedore, what do you make of it all?" Breetai grumbled from where he was, still in his command chair.

Exedore had managed to shake off his shock at the goings on of the micronian ritual to do some research and had an answer for his Commander.

"I believe First Officer Miriya Parina just underwent what the micronians call a 'marriage'."

"'Marriage'?" Breetai repeated turning his head sharply and narrowing his eye. "What is that?"

"A micronian custom that involves a male and female of species coming together for the purpose of…" he trailed off, and swallowed, unsure if he would even be able to get it out and then wondering how his Commander would react to it.

"Exedore?" Breetai grumbled in a tone that held a warning.

"For the purpose of…procreating," he finally managed, unfortunately Breetai did not looked particularly enlightened by this. Exedore had no choice but to try another way. "For…bringing forth further members of their species."

"Without…cloning?"

"Yes, m'lord," Exedore licked his lips, which had become extremely dry.

A shudder ran through Breetai's huge frame. "You mean…that **birthing** process the micronian captives spoke of?"

"Yes, m'lord," Exedore confirmed with a nod.

"And a Zentraedi would…**willing** submit to such a thing?"

"Well…First Officer Parina seems to…our scanners indicate no sign of anything but sincerity in her speech to the fleet." Exedore was forced to admit.

"Our records warned us of this, didn't they?"

"Not in quite those terms, m'lord, but perhaps I have taken it too literally…It mentioned the Zentraedi being almost destroyed…I took this to mean through casualties. But perhaps it meant through defection."

Breetai suddenly rose to his feet, Exedore cringed, slightly fearful.

"Defection," he growled. "No, Exedore, I won't believe it."

Had it been anyone **but** Breetai, Exedore would have replied with the obvious _I fear it has all __**ready**__ begun, m'lord._

"M'lord," one of the techs called up to the bridge, "we are receiving an urgent signal from Commander Azonia."

Breetai ground his teeth and clenched his hand into a fist.

"Patch her through," he finally ordered.

The female Commander's harried face appeared on screen. "Breetai, you've finally decided to answer me."

"I have no time for snide remarks, Azonia," he began warningly, meeting her eyes with his impatient one. "Say you part and be done with it."

"You saw…the transmission –"

"Of course I did," Breetai snapped, "we all did! Get on with it."

Azonia's pale cheeks coloured and she straightened. "I only contact you to ask what it is you plan to do about this? It cannot stand, we know of twenty-four Zentraedi now who have turned their backs on our glorious race. Are you going to allow more to do so?"

Exedore had to feel some sort of admiration for the female Commander, not even Khyron himself had ever spoken to Lord Breetai in such a manner.

But Breetai obviously saw the truth in Azonia's words, since he did not immediately order her arrest or execution. Instead a cold look came over his one eye.

"No, Commander Azonia, I shall not…and neither will you. Give the order to attack."

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen," the MC for the reception stood up in front of the bridal table. "I hope you've all enjoyed this fine food –"

There were calls of approval from those assembled.

The MC held up his hand. "The chefs' thank you for seal of approval," he assured them. "Now, before we dig into this grand cake," he gestured towards a set of double doors, that opened admitting a huge cart upon which the masterpiece, a towering replica of the SDF-1 in battle configuration, a mass of chocolate sponge and coloured frosting. The crowd "ooh"ed and "aahh"ed appreciatively and quite a few licked their lips at the sight.

"Yes, it's just asking to be eaten, but before that we would like to welcome a very special guest who has agreed to sing for us and for the bride and groom in particular, of course, would you please welcome, Miss Lynn Minmei!"

A great cheer rose from the crowd and applause broke out as Minmei, dressed in a rather eye catching pokadot dress rose from her table and made her way over to the microphone, waving to various people.

"Oh thank you, thank you!" Minmei called, smiling. It had seemed like forever since she had been invited to sing before an audience like this and thinking of it, it **had**.

Taking the microphone in had she held up a hand for silence. "First of all I'd like to give my congratulations to the bride and groom, I hope you'll be very happy together." Turning she smiled at them, remembering how much she had liked quiet Max Sterling when she had first met him. As for Miriya, well, Minmei didn't know anything about her, except that she seemed very happy to be here.

They both accepted her congratulations with a nod.

"I dedicate this song not just to them, but to all of us, those aboard and elsewhere," she added, having been told that her song would be broadcast much like the wedding had been. "I hope you love hearing it as much as I loved writing it."

All the lights in the room dimmed, excepting one that illuminated her in a spotlight, the music began, softly at first.

"_All my life I've searched_

_For the one for me._

_The one I can call my love._

_But everywhere I've gone_

_Everywhere I've looked_

_It's never been._"

Slowly the music rose and so did Minmei's voice, except for a song there was not a sound from the crowd.

* * *

"All units battle stations, all units report to mecha."

The alarm rang out throughout the entire massed fleet.

But for once there was not the usual running and excitement that came with battle.

Because in between the calls from command, there was a voice, a voice they had never heard before, speaking in a way they could never imagine.

"_But one day I rounded a corner,_

_One day I saw you._

_My heart lifted to the skies_

_My life suddenly made sense."_

Aboard Breetai's cruiser, Gundul a Zentraedi who had never actually attended one of Rico, Konda and Bron's displays, but heard about them was frozen in his tracks. As fellow Zentraedi ran about him he listened intently to the female, a word coming to him, a word for what her voice was doing.

"Singing."

A fellow Zentraedi heard him and stopped looking at him confused. "What?"

"Sshh," Gundul pointed to a speaker in the hallway.

"_There I found you,_

_Waiting for me_

_There I saw you_

_Everything I needed_

_There I came to be with you_

_As I always will be."_

"What is it?" the second Zentraedi breathed. "It's amazing."

"Singing," Gundul repeated.

Slowly several other Zentraedi stopped, almost blocking the hallway, listening intently, the call to battle stations forgotten.

* * *

They weren't the only ones, throughout fleet one or two became dozens, then more. Zentraedi after Zentraedi stopping in their tracks to listen to the song.

"There's Zentraedi on that micronian ship now," a Quadrono remarked to no-one in particular. "The ace of the Quadronos, our finest warrior, if **she** will not fight, why should we?"

Vividine heard her, and whirled to face her. "Stop your talking," she commanded, "we have our orders."

The other Quadrono looked at her. "We have, but I don't know if I want to follow them anymore."

* * *

"_All my life I searched_

'_Til I found you._

_I always knew there was someone_

_Who would know me_

_Like no-one ever had before."_

Claudia had to admit that this particular song of Minmei was rather a cut above the rest. She had never been much of a fan of Miss. Macross, but this song was definitely heart-felt.

The Bridge Bunnies were listening raptly to every note, holding each other's hands.

_Probably thinking of those three spies of theirs_, Claudia thought with a smile.

Then she looked over at Lisa. She had been shocked that morning when Lisa had shown up on the Bridge early as ever in her neatly pressed uniform ready for duty.

Captain Gloval had not yet left the Bridge and together the two of them had tried to convince Lisa that it was a bit too early to jump back into duty.

But Lisa was not to be convinced.

The Captain had left, but had instructed Claudia to watch Lisa closely and if there was any sign of something not being right, to send her off to rest.

Lisa had seemed slightly drowsy, but considering how quiet things were Claudia had decided not to count that against her.

Now though, she was hunched over her console her thick brown hair shielding her face from view.

"_I have always loved you_

_From the moment I was born,_

_I needed only to see you_

_For my love to find its home"_

Claudia had a bad feeling her best friend was crying, and her heat reached out to her.

_Poor girl, after everything's she's been through,_ Claudia shook her head and made to step from her console to go and comfort her friend. Before she could take one step however, an alarm rent the air.

The Bridge Bunnies jumped, shocked and suddenly Vanessa's board changed from footage of Minmei's song to the radar view.

"Oh my God," she gasped. "Several squadrons of enemy fighters have launched! They'll make contact in less than five minutes!"

"Damnit," Claudia swore, returning to her console and quickly entering inputs.

Lisa had shaken herself out of her funk, and had all ready opened the comm. net.

"Attention all Veritech squadrons, attention all Veritech squadrons, we are under attack. All pilots to Veritechs, repeat all pilots to Veritechs."

Claudia thought of Roy, trying to push back the fear that always came up in these situations.

_What a way to gate crash,_ she thought, as through the bridge view port the enemy squadrons started to come in sight.

* * *

Miriya had been caught up in the 'song' of the female micronian. It was hard to believe that some lons ago she had been horrified by even the suggestion of music and singing. Some of it still shocked her, but this particular tune, soft and gentle had made her feel calm and close to Maximillian.

He had just whispered into her ear. "Can I have this dance" – an odd micronian custom of moving to music when the alert sounded.

There was a loud groan of dismay from all assembled, but quickly from everywhere pilots got to their feet and began dashing from the room towards the bays and their mecha.

Automatically, Maximillian had begun to set off towards the decks of the _Prometheus_, Miriya quickly caught up with him, but before she could take his hand someone called.

"Hey, Sterling! You sit this one out, Captain's orders!"

Miriya looked about, but the Captain had disappeared, no doubt returning to his post.

"Well," Maximillian murmured as the soldier who delivered the orders hurried on. He looked at Miriya and took her hand, then turned to look out the observation window.

Miriya looked too, a large group was coming their way.

"It looks like we need every pilot we've got," Maximillian whispered.

"You must go then," Miriya spoke, "for your people."

"Yes," Maximillian nodded, he took her other hand and squeezed both of them. "I'm sorry to be leaving you…"

"Leaving me?" Miriya repeated, tilting her head. "What do you mean? I am coming with you, of course."

Maximillian looked at her stunned. "Coming with me? But –"

"You told me that marriage is a partnership, a promise that we will remain together. So we will."

"But…you don't have a Veritech," Maximillian objected.

"The one we flew in to come to the ceremony is capable of been armed is it not? It has two seats, I will come with you, I will help you," she looked deeply into his blue eyes. "As I promised."

Maximillian looked ready to object, but he seemed to realise something and finally nodded. "What are we waiting for then? Let's go!"

And with that the two ran following the rest of the pilots on their way to protect the Fortress and those aboard.


	38. Chapter 38

"_Some time they'll give a war and nobody will come."_ Quote by Carl Sandburg

* * *

The launching of mecha was taking a lot longer than normal.

Standing on the bridge, arms folded Breetai watched the comm. screen, usually a Zentraedi battle launch was like a well-oiled machine, but this time mecha was leaving the launch bays in dribs and drabs.

"Exedore, what's the devil is going on?"

His advisor shook his head. "I've never seen anything like this m'lord," his black eyes had a look of helplessness in them.

Breetai wonder if his eye did as well, never in all the nos they had served together had Breetai seen his advisor at a loss.

"Commander Breetai," a tech called from his console.

"What?" He barked, impatient.

The tech in question jumped to his feet, a strange look on his face. "We're receiving transmissions from ships throughout the fleet…" he paused for a moment. "There are widespread reports of…of…Zentraedi warriors **refusing** to take up arms."

Breetai felt faint, reaching out he grabbed a hold of the communicator to steady himself. "**WHAT**?!" He gasped.

"I-it's true m'lord," the tech looked terrified, obviously expecting Breetai to suddenly order his immediate execution – Breetai had to admit he was tempted. "Listen."

The tech pressed a button and the transmissions flooded in.

"Combat troop three through to seven of the Kwendil are refusing to take up arms."

"The third battalion of the Zenquade Fleet are not following the commands given."

"A small number of Quadronos are refusing to board their mecha."

Around the bank of consoles the techs looked at each other in disbelief as the transmissions kept coming, there must have been hundreds of Zentraedi.

Then finally….

"As commander of fleet ship Murdul I refuse to take up arms against the battle fortress."

"Enough!" Breetai roared, this time putting a fist through part of the command bubble that **hadn't** been broken. He whirled to face Exedore. "This cannot continue!"

His advisor shook his head.

Even with the deserters there was more than enough Zentraedi out there to destroy the micronian ship…_If His Excellency knew what this war had descended into…_ Breetai thought, tightening his grip on the communicator.

It was time to give the order, time to destroy Zor's Fortress…

* * *

"Skull Leader to Bridge, there seems to be a bit of confusion in the alien ranks," Roy reported, noticing that more and more battle groups of Zentraedi appeared to have missing pilots and mecha. "Maybe the wedding service got through to them."

"Roger, Skull Leader," Lisa's pale face appeared on the corner of his screen. "There's still enough of them out there, intercept at Delta point."

"Roger," Roy replied, and relayed the order in case any of the squadrons had missed it.

Out the corner of his eye he noticed Sterling's distinctive blue Veritech. _Damn, kid, can't take an order if his life depended on it._ All the same though, Roy appreciated the fact that they would have their finest pilot on this mission.

At that moment he realised that it wasn't Sterling's Veritech, it was the blue VF-D and in the back seat was the new Mrs. Sterling.

_She's got guts,_ Roy thought admiringly, but wondered if she could really bring herself to fire on her own race, married to a human or not.

As yet however, no fire had been exchanged, in complete contrast with every battle encounter that had preceded this one the Zentraedi seemed uncertain, unsure about whether to shoot.

Faced with such an enemy Roy had to admit hesitating a bit himself, several times he had a pod in sight, but when the pilot inside it made no move to fire, Roy found that he couldn't either. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel…

Finally though, one of the pods fired its lasers narrowly missing a Veritech off Roy's starboard.

That broke the hesitation and in seconds lines of laser fire and corkscrewing trails of missiles filled the sector.

As always Roy kept his eyes on both the action going on and the positions of the Veritech squadrons.

It took him a few moments to realise that Sterling wasn't flying with his usual panache, in fact he was hanging back, Roy was pretty sure he had yet to fire a shot. He easily avoided the fire of the battle pods, but it was still bizarre behaviour.

Roy was about to open the tac net and order the Starlings' to return to base, they were jeopardising both themselves and the rest of the squadrons when suddenly the Veritech fired one of its laser turrets.

And hit a pod right where its legs met the cockpit.

And for once, a pod (surely the less durable of mecha) didn't exploded into a thousand pieces instead it spun off, apparently losing all control function.

"What the-" Roy blinked, it was unlike Sterling to mess up a shot.

But then the blue Veritech fired another shot from its laser turret, hitting another enemy pod in the same location and sending it spinning out of control, but intact.

As Sterling hit a third one, Roy realised what he…or rather what Mrs. Sterling was doing.

Roy watched closely, zooming in his own gun sight to see exactly **where** on the pod Sterling was aiming. He spotted it, a small square hatch, he had never noticed it before, but then he hadn't really been looking. As soon as the laser hit and blew out that square of metal, the pod was neutralised.

Opening the tac net, Roy sent out the command. "Attention all Veritechs, cease firing to kill, aim for the small square hatch between the legs of the alien mecha, repeat, the small square hatch between the legs of the battle pods."

And taking careful aim he fired his laser at the square himself and was rewarded by the battle pod remaining in tact, but no longer able to fire.

All around the other Veritech pilots had heard and were carefully aiming for that square hatch.

"What the Hell, Fokker," Gibson appeared on screen, "you smokin' the peace pipe now?"

Roy clenched his teeth, _God damn, at least when Rick disobeys orders he has a decent reason too. This guy just wants to argue. _

"Gibson, shut up and follow orders," he snapped, "or I'll have you sent to the Brig the second we get back to base, you understand?"

Gibson looked ready to retort, but thought better of it. "Aye, aye," he grumbled and began firing on the small square hatch on the pods.

"This is Skull Leader to Bridge, the Starlings' have found away to neutralise the enemy," Roy decided he better let the bridge know what they were up to.

Lisa appeared to have regained some colour, the change of tactics breathing some life into her. "Roger that, Skull Leader, keep doing what you're doing."

Roy had no argument there, there was nothing to be achieved by blowing up Zentraedi, maybe this would show them that there was no need to continue this pointless war.

* * *

Breetai had not given the order to destroy the micronians, he had been ready to, the words on the tip of his tongue, but then he had seen the battle footage.

Despite the superior numbers of Zentraedi the micronians pilots persisted in hitting the weak spot (no doubt revealed to them by Officer Parina, who would have been privy to such information) of the Regults.

When he finally spoke then, it was to say. "They are not destroying us…they have discovered away to stop us without killing and…**they have taken it**."

Beside him Exedore seemed to actually be **trembling**, Breetai felt shaky himself. _I don't understand…why…_

"They meant what they said in their speeches," Exedore's voice startled him. "They have no wish to continue fighting when our races seem so similar."

"I don't understand," Breetai said aloud.

"It is what the micronians call 'peace'," Exedore ventured, "and despite the death we have heaped upon them they are offering it to us."

'_Peace' _Breetai recalled the word and the explanation given to him by the three spies now deserters.

It was completely out of the Zentraedi experience, but watching caused a whirl of feelings. On one hand, it seemed so…weak…so pathetic to not press against a foe.

But on the other…Breetai had to admit he had never seen anything so courageous, of all the enemies the Zentraedi had fought they had never come up against one so similar and yet so different from themselves.

"Engage the recall beacon," finally Breetai gave an order. "Call off the attack, I want all Zentraedi returned to their ships."

There was a gasp, and for a moment the techs looked ready to object or at least question the order, but one look at Breetai convinced them to do otherwise, and they began typing the inputs.

Suddenly a transmission broke into the footage of the battle.

"Breetai!" Khyron's purple face took up the screen. "What is going on out there? What's this order to call off the battle? The micronians are not even trying to destroy us anymore, are you willing to let that stand?"

"Khyron, don't try me," Breetai growled warningly, still too shocked over the micronians behaviour (and his own) to be as angry as he could be. "**I** am in charge of this mission, not you. I notice that your battalion hasn't launched yet," he added.

Khyron's face flushed and Breetai guessed his strategy. _He wanted to wait until most of the micronian force had been destroyed before venturing out. Coward._

Swallowing hard, Khyron finally responded. "Understood, I await further orders." And then unceremoniously cut the transmission.

"Recall beacon activated," a tech called, "all mecha returning to ship of origin."

Breetai watched as the large number of useless Regults were pulled away from the battle, only to be interrupted by yet another transmission.

This time it was Azonia.

"M'lord what is going on here? Why have you called off the attack? Are we to bombard the ship?"

Breetai closed his eye briefly, he really had no patience for Azonia at this moment, but at least she was not flouting his authority as Khyron was.

"No, Commander," he returned, "as you have no doubt noticed, this battle is a shambles, it is to our benefit if we regroup."

Azonia looked taken aback. "Regroup? We have the power to destroy the micronian ship with one bombardment, what need do we have to regroup?"

"I have my reasons," he growled, giving her a look that brooked no argument. "And you will follow them."

Azonia clenched her jaw, breathing hard for a few moments before responding. "As you command, Lord Breetai."

With a salute she too cut the transmission.

"Put a block on all incoming signals," Breetai commanded sharply to the techs. "I will have no more interruptions."

The techs hurried to comply and Breetai turned to Exedore.

"It is time for us to discuss this matter, if Zentraedi refuse to fight… our situation is dire."

Exedore nodded silently.

"Firstly, I want to hear everything the records say regarding micronians, Exedore, no matter how trivial." He went to his command chair and sat, tenting his fingers together.

"Very well, m'lord," Exedore gave a small cough, then straightened his crooked shoulders as much as he could and began.

* * *

"All Veritechs have returned to their assigned bays, sir," Lisa looked over her shoulder at the Captain.

"The alien fleet has retreated slightly and radar sweeps are clear," Vanessa called from the treat board.

"Communications from all sectors report no damage to the SDF-1," Claudia reported.

"All fine here," Sammie and Kim called from their stations.

Captain Gloval let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair.

"Well done, ladies," he finally said after a moment.

"Sir," they saluted.

"That was quite a show," Claudia remarked, running a hand through her hair. "I wonder what the aliens will make of us disabling instead of destroying their mecha."

"Hopefully it will make them think even more than the wedding," the Captain remarked, getting up from his chair.

Lisa nodded in agreement, the fact that they had called off their attack was perhaps cause for hope.

"Well, I think you've all worked hard enough, no doubt the reception will start up again as soon as Mr. Metz can arrange it." The Captain gave them all a small smile. "You're welcome to attend seeing as you're all off duty for the next twelve hours."

The Bridge Bunnies looked at each other and needing no further prompting jumped to their feet.

"Thanks, Captain!"

"You're the greatest!"

"Are you coming back too?"

His smile widening he shook his head. "No, this old man is all worn out."

The Bridge Bunnies looked disappointed, but then Sammie piped up.

"We'll get you a piece of cake, Captain."

"Yeah," Kim joined, "from the bridge section."

"What about you two," Vanessa looked at Lisa and Claudia. "Are you coming or do we need to save a piece for you too?"

Claudia laughed. "I'll head on down, my knight in grey flight suit will be there I'm sure."

Lisa 's first instinct was to refuse, after all avoiding the wedding was part of the reason she'd gone back on duty.

But looking at Claudia and then at the Bridge Bunnies, she found herself agreeing.

Immediately, Kim and Sammie came on either side of her as if to make sure she didn't try to change her mind and with Claudia and Vanessa bring up the rear they farewelled the Captain and headed off the bridge as the relief techs arrived.

Unusually for them the Bridge Bunnies had decided to show up as is to the reception rather than bother to change.

"After all we'd have to go back to barracks to do that, and all the best bits of the cake will be gone!" Sammie reasoned.

For once in her life though, Lisa would have preferred to be in civilian dress, she could have put a scarf on to really become anonymous, as it was she'd stick out like a sore thumb in her white uniform.

It turned out not be as bad as all that though, the Wedding Reception was back on, but it had descended into chaos. Civilians were almost pushing each other down in their attempts to thank the pilots, especially since they had seen it all through the view port.

Lisa spotted Minmei, who was hard to miss, among the crowd, smiling and chatting to various pilots.

_Rick will be at her side any minute…_ Lisa predicted, immediately regretting coming. Claudia and the Bridge Bunnies had gone their separate ways, so there was nothing stopping her from leaving.

She turned away to do so, and found herself facing Lynn Kyle.

He didn't notice her, since he was too busy watching Minmei and no doubt disapproving of what she was doing.

Since _Small White Dragon_ Lisa distanced Kyle from Karl, which all things considered wasn't too hard. There was a slight resemblance and the similarity in their voices was uncanny, but their personalities were almost opposite.

_Karl __**lived**__ peace, Lynn Kyle only talks of it,_ Lisa thought, and made to turn away when Kyle suddenly noticed her.

"Commander Hayes, isn't it?" he began without so much as a greeting.

"Yes," she replied, straightening her shoulders.

"Well, I guess you're happy," he gestured towards the crowd. "There's no better propaganda than this, is there?"

Lisa gritted her teeth, she really wasn't in any shape for a fight, but something like that couldn't be ignored.

"We didn't plan that battle if that's what you're suggesting," she returned, coolly.

"Oh? You've got some luck then."

Lisa felt the blood rise to her cheeks. The man was really pushing it. "Listen, it's a miracle all our pilots came back alive," she spoke in quietly, but her voice was steely. "They risked their lives for you and everyone else aboard this ship. And you may have noticed they did their best not to kill any of the Zentraedi out there. You hate war, but you know what, everybody does too. But not everybody has the option of protesting against it. We're going to try and bring an end to this conflict, and we may well be on the way of doing so, but it will be no thanks to you."

She realised she had clenched her fists and they were shaking and took a deep breath to steady herself.

Kyle looked taken aback and for a few seconds it looked like he was going to continue, but instead he turned and walked away.

Unclenching her fists, Lisa turned to continue her escape when she nearly ran into yet another person.

She almost groaned aloud, but it died in her throat when she realised who it was…

"Lisa," Rick looked surprised to see her.

Her mouth had gone dry at the sight of him, they hadn't met or even spoken since that brief scene in the hospital, which could have been a dream…

"Rick…uh…what are you doing over here?" She finally blurted and immediately wanted to kick herself.

Fortunately, if Rick thought she was acting stupidly, he didn't make an issue of it, instead he gestured towards the cake. "Well, that's not really a cake can you can refuse."

"Hmmm," Lisa gave it a quick look.

"What about you? I mean, I can't believe you're back on duty, you must be superwoman or something."

Lisa knew that he was trying to compliment her, but she felt worse when he said that. _Superwoman…like I'm not even human._

"So…um…did you see the wedding from the Bridge?" Rick sensed her discomfort and changed the subject.

She nodded.

"I guess you must have enjoyed the honour guard, huh?" He smiled at her. "That's what I get for months of sloppy military behaviour."

Lisa found herself smiling, it **had** been amusing to see Rick of all people, nervous at baulking protocol.

But still she was conscious of Minmei and wondering why Rick was making no attempt at trying to speak with her.

"That...that was some song Minmei debuted today," she found herself saying.

Rick looked a little taken aback and shot a quick glance in Minmei's direction. "Yeah, it was…really nice." He scratched the back of his head in a nervous gesture. "So, er…did I mention how glad I am to have you back on board."

Lisa was surprised. _He doesn't want to talk about Minmei? _She wondered if she was hearing things.

"You've forgotten my message? You know the Morse code one? Or did I get it wrong…I didn't accidentally say something about your shoes, did I?"

It took a moment, but Lisa remembered what he was talking about and laughed, the first time she had done so in a long time.

"Oh no, I got it…thank you."

Rick smiled in relief, then reached out and laid a hand on her arm. "Good, 'cause I meant it, you know."

Lisa's heart was hammering in her chest, never in a million years had she expected this. Perhaps…it wasn't such a dream after all…

* * *

"Hey babe, you made it," Roy put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a kiss.

"Yeah, but not for you, I want a taste of the masterpiece over there," Claudia returned, pointing towards the cake, where Max and Miriya Sterling stood finally ready to cut the first piece.

"Thrown over for a cake," Roy sighed, "typical female behaviour."

"Hey, watch it," Claudia gave him a nudge. "Who tells you where to fly out there?"

"Speaking of Hayes, look over there," Roy pointed at the scene that was unfolding.

"Why your little brother has finally grown up enough to talk civilly to a commanding officer."

"Hey, give Rick a break," Roy shot back loyally, "seriously though…what do you think they're talking about over there?"

"Who knows," Claudia shrugged, but as Rick put a hand on Lisa's arm she raised her eyebrows. "Looks like its personal…"

"Well, you said something about her crushing on him, didn't you?"

"Not so loud," Claudia gave him a warning look, "I didn't tell you that so you could announce it to an audience of a thousand."

"Oh, please, they can't hear us," Roy waved his hand dismissively, but leaned closer to whisper in her ear. "But you said that didn't you?"

"Hmmm…" Claudia nodded, "but do you think your hard headed friend over there realises it? I don't want him breaking **my** best friend's heart."

"Hey, you know Rick would never **deliberately** jerk someone around."

"He's got no idea, has he?" Claudia raised an eyebrow.

"Well no," Roy shrugged, "but give him a break, women are tough."

She grinned up at him and winked. "Except for **you**, of course."

"Hey, there's no accounting for who gets what talent, is there? But I say we leave 'em to themselves and get in line, I want a piece of the _Prometheus_."

* * *

"You look so dashing in your tux," Sammie praised Rico, putting her arm through his.

Rico blushed, he hadn't been sure when he'd put the garment on that morning. It had seemed rather constricting and itchy for that matter. But hearing Sammie praise it, he suddenly felt more comfortable than he'd ever been in his life.

"You do as well," Vanessa patted Bron's arm, "I like your bow tie, blue's really your colour."

"Heh, thanks."

"And you look good in everything you wear," Kim told Konda, who looked at his two friends with a big grin.

"I think I win, fellas."

Bron frowned. "It's not a contest."

Sensing that trouble might be brewing, Rico spoke. "Hey come on, we're gonna miss the cake cutting, I heard that's the best part of this wedding stuff."

"No," Sammie waggled a finger at him, "the best part is exchanging vows to love each other forever."

"Oh," Rico gulped, "uh…well."

Sammie laughed and patted his check. "It's OK, I'll let you off **this **time, but watch it."

Rico nodded, relieved, there was still quite a bit to learn about females, that was for sure.

The three couples craned their heads trying to see as much as they could, as together Max and Miriya holding one of the ceremonial swords cut into a 'foot' section of the SDF-1 cake.

Miriya had obviously learned fast about micronian ceremonies because when she got her piece of cake she immediately smashed it into her new husband's face.

Unfortunately, she did so with a little **too** much enthusiasm, almost knocking him off his feet and into the cake stand.

Good naturedly as ever, though, Max regained his balance and picking up a napkin wiped his face off. "Woah…I guess no-one can object when I say later on that Miriya almost knocked me off my feet."

There was an appreciative laugh, and blushing Miriya apologised.

Soon, the huge cake was taken from the room to be cut into a thousand (or more) pieces and everyone started lining up for theirs.

Rico was surprised when he heard Sammie sniffling beside him, he turned quickly and saw her dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.

"Are you OK?"

She smiled up at him. "Oh, yes, I'm just such a sap at weddings."

Rico was confused, having heard the term 'sap' before and not in a very complimentary way. For the first time, he put his arm around Sammie's shoulders and squeezed them.

"Hey, you're no sap, in fact, I think you're the greatest."

To his surprise though, that only made her cry more.

_I __**definitely**__ need practice at this_, Rico thought rather despairing and opened his mouth to try and say the right thing this time.

But he was cut off when Sammie quickly pressed her lips to his.

For the very first time.

* * *

Captain Gloval was out of uniform, one of the very few times he had done so since the SDF-1 had misfolded to Pluto almost a year and a half ago.

But he had no intention of leaving his quarters and had in fact settled down with a small glass of wine and a thick book. One he had started the day before the Launch Ceremony and had yet to get halfway through.

He hoped the Bridge Bunnies and Claudia and Lisa were enjoying themselves at the reception, those girls certainly deserved to have a bit of fun.

Gloval was just getting back into his book when the phone rang.

He groaned and took a quick look out the observation window in his room. There was no movement from the fleet that he could see and he was extremely tempted to ignore the call.

But that wasn't something the Captain of the ship could afford to do, so with a sigh, he set his book facedown on the bed and sitting up reached over and picked up the phone.

"Captain Gloval, sir," Tech Andrews's face appeared on the comm. screen, she looked wide-eyed. "We've received a transmission."

Gloval wondered what could have shocked the young woman so, Andrews was usually the soul of calm.

"Alaska Base?" He asked, wondering if perhaps today's broadcast had rattled them so much they had finally deigned to make proper contact with him.

"No, sir, from the Zentraedi," Andrews replied.

Gloval shot to his feet…could it be…

"The Zentraedi?" He repeated. "Patch it through."

"But, your channel cannot be entirely secured, sir."

"Never mind that," he waved a hand, if Alaska Base wanted to listen in on this, they were more then welcome to.

Andrews made a few inputs and then…

"This is Advisor Exedore Formo with a message for the Captain of the vessel known as the SDF-1. I make this transmission in the name of…" the voice paused for a moment, struggling before recovering. "In the name of peace. Lord Breetai Commander of our forces has choose me to come as an abassador, I will be micronised in order to do so. In approximately twelve of your hours, I will be placed onboard an unarmed recon ship that will set out towards your vessel. I ask that I be admitted onboard to discuss the possibility of negotiations for peace."

Gloval sank back onto the bed, his legs unable to support him.

The transmission began to repeat, but he held up a hand. "Thank you, Tech Andrews, I have heard what I need to."

Andrews nodded.

"All right, I want you to make preparations for a meeting with Colonels Maistroff and Caruthers, tell them it is urgent and replay that transmission for them if need be." He got to his feet again. "We will meet in Conference Room 4 at zero hundred hours."

"Aye, aye, sir," Andrews saluted and ended the call.

Moving faster than he had in years Gloval grabbed his uniform from where he had placed it on a chair and headed for the bathroom to get dressed.

_It looks as if peace may come at last._

* * *

On Earth at Alaska Base, Donald Hayes sat pensively, the far ranging radar and transmission interceptors had picked up everything that had gone on aboard the SDF-1 that day.

But the latest intercept had shaken him to the core.

"Peace…the aliens have proposed peace," he whispered to himself, looking at the photo on his desk.

He knew he was imagining it, but he was very sure Andrea was looking at him with disappointment in her eyes. And Lisa, only a child in the photo was giving him the saddest look he had ever seen.

_I was wrong, Lisa told me, __**warned **__me, but I wouldn't listen…_

He had no idea what to do now, preparations were well underway, the vast amount of energy necessary for the first firing of the Grand Cannon necessitated in the generation process to begin weeks in advance. It was more than half way charged now and probably too late to stop. At least that's what the scientists had said.

Admiral Hayes had certainly never said so to Lisa, but the fact was the Grand Cannon was not quite complete yet. One of the Head Scientist had almost fainted when she had heard that they were preparing to fire it.

"Are you completely mad!" She had cried, shaking her head. "And firing it at full strength? We have no idea what that will do! It could destroy the entire Base!"

He had been concerned of course, but the rest of the Council had voted him down and considering the alien threat, Hayes had decided that the risk was acceptable if it would save Earth.

But now it looked as if it had been unnecessary after all.

_We've doomed ourselves to destruction._

For the first time in his life he reached out a put the photo face down on the desk, unable to look at it.


	39. Chapter 39

"_We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive." _ Quote by Albert Einstein

* * *

The Wedding celebrations had ended on a high note and Max was practically walking on air as he and Miriya arrived at their new quarters.

Max was rather surprised to notice that the quarters next door to his were Rick's, he supposed it was a coincidence. Although what family quarters were doing right next door to a standard sized one, Max had no idea, but looking over at Miriya he decided he didn't really care about that right then.

Miriya's eyes widened as they entered and Max had to admit to been quite surprised himself, the quarters were a lot more spacious then he'd imagined and there was even an ensuite bathroom.

_Wow, get married, take a step up in the world,_ he thought, wondering about the particular fairness of that.

"I had no idea micronian quarters were so large," Miriya said what he was thinking. "Space is limited onboard Zentraedi ships, we are crowded in."

Max smiled. "Well, I gotta tell you my last room wasn't **anything** like this. I guess the Brass have decided we're something special."

Miriya smiled. "They would be right," she said, her pride evident as ever.

They were still dressed in their wedding outfits, which as far as Max was concerned were wearing out their welcome, so he suggested to Miriya that they change into their pyjamas.

He decided to get changed in the bathroom though and give Miriya some privacy. It was probably strange behaviour for a wedding night, but this wasn't really the normal situation.

He had, of course, explained things to Miriya that day she asked, but in all honesty the only reason she hadn't reacted more strongly, in Max's opinion, was because she hadn't been able to grasp what he'd been saying.

_Figures I guess, I mean it's a big step away from been grown in a test tube,_ Max thought wryly, deciding to take a quick shower, since it had been a pretty eventful day.

Standing under the stream of hot water he wondered if he ought to explain everything again or just let it be, at least for the time being. After all, he was on cloud nine just being around Miriya, so it wasn't like he felt deprived or anything…

Climbing out of the shower he pulled on his pyjamas, a pair of tracksuit pants and an oversized shirt. He picked up his glasses, but found them still all fogged up.

At that moment there was a piercing squeal that made him jump, until he realised it wasn't the combat siren, it was…

_**What**__ is that?_

"Max! Help! What's happening?!"

Hurrying to shove his glasses back on, Max careened out of the bathroom and the bedroom to the small kitchenette where Miriya stood in front of what was fast becoming a blazing fire.

"Holy -! Get out of the way!" He shouted at her grabbing an extinguisher off the wall and aiming it at the flames.

In seconds they were put out, and Max let out a sigh of relief and wiped his brow. "Phew! You almost set us on fire!"

He didn't say it angrily, but Miriya who had changed into a long yellow nightgown looked distraught.

"I wanted to make us 'tea', I heard it's good to drink it in the evening."

Max smiled, and set down the fire extinguisher. "Well, it's a nice thought, but…uh…obviously you don't have it down quite yet…"

"But I do," Miriya protested, "I asked! They told me you need to boil water in the kettle, so I did."

It was at that moment Max noticed the bottle of oil next to the smoking stove.

"Ummm…did you put **that** on the stove first?" He asked picking it up.

"Of course, it says 'For Cooking'." Miriya pointed to the text on the label.

"But boiling isn't the same as cooking," Max smiled and patted her shoulder. "You're only supposed to put that on food you want fry up." He explained, and then grinned. "You tried to cook the coffee pot!"

"Oh," Miriya looked even more upset.

"Don't be like that," Max said quickly, pulling her into a hug. "It's an easy mistake to make!"

"Sure," Miriya looked unconvinced, "I bet a micronian would never do something like this."

"Well, uh..." Max racked his brain trying to think of something to cheer her up. "Maybe not **exactly** that, but the first time my friend, Ben, tried to make eggs on toast he put the bread in the toaster egg and all."

The memory made him laugh, even though at the time of course it had been a little scary with all the smoke billowing out.

Miriya didn't know how to cook eggs either, but understood that that had been the wrong thing to do and laughed as well.

"So you see cooking can be hazardous," Max assured her, "that's why most soldiers go to the mess."

"Well, I've certainly made a mess here," Miriya replied, then laughed again.

Max did too, it wasn't the wittiest joke, but he had never heard Miriya make one before.

Just then he realised they were being rather loud and the walls between quarters weren't **that** thin. He didn't hear anything, but he didn't want to keep Rick up all night.

He said this to Miriya and then added. "How about we have some milk and call it a day, it's pretty good to drink in the evening too." He smiled.

"All right then," Miriya smiled back.

* * *

"Hey, Little Brother, wake up!" Roy rapped his knuckles on the door to Rick's quarters. Gloval had called about half an hour ago with unbelievable news and had told him to round up Rick.

But there was no answer.

"Geeze," shaking his head Roy entered the code for the hatch release. "You think after all this time the kid wouldn't be sleeping through-" He cut himself off when he stepped into the room.

Rick was nowhere to be seen.

"What the Hell?" Roy checked his watch, it was only a little past six hundred hours, he couldn't imagine why Rick would possibly be out of bed.

He stepped back into the hallway just as the hatch to the room next door opened and Max stuck his head out.

"Commander Fokker," he looked surprised.

"Hey, Sterling," Roy returned, "so this is where your new digs are?"

Max nodded, pushing his glasses back up on his nose.

"Have you seen Rick around?" Max looked like he'd only just got up, but Roy figured he may as well ask.

He was surprised though when Max shook his head. "No, sorry," he looked at his watch. "Say what are you doing up so early."

"The Captain rang me, apparently the Zentraedi are sending an ambassador to the ship in –" pausing he checked his watch – "an hour."

Max's eyes widened. "You're kidding?"

"Nope, and Rick's among the invited, if I could find him that is."

"He's probably gone for a morning jog, he does that sometimes," Max suggested. "You want me to –"

At that moment the sound of a ringing phone came from inside his quarters.

"Looks like the Captain's giving you and your bride your marching orders, too." Roy speculated.

"Max? Where's the communicator in this room? I can hear it, but I can't find it."

"I'll track Rick down," Roy assured Max, "you better deal with that."

Max nodded and disappeared back into his quarters.

Roy hurried on to track down his Little Brother. _It's nice that he's finally taken my advice to get some exercise…but seriously…_

He checked his watch again, he better be able to track Rick down soon, because if seven hundred rolled around without them being at Conference Room 1…

* * *

"An ambassador, sir?" Lisa was stunned.

Captain Gloval pipe in hand nodded and then took a puff. "The message was received last night," he informed her, reaching out he pressed a button on the console in front of him and the message played.

"It's…it's amazing, sir," Lisa shook her head, "after everything…they've actually agreed to negotiate."

"It is indeed amazing," the Captain agreed he then stroked his moustache looking at her with a very serious expression. "Now, I want you to be the one to meet this ambassador."

Lisa's eyes widened. "What? I mean…" she coughed, embarrassed, "uh…why me, sir, I've never had any experience in such a thing."

"I'm aware of that, but then again no-one else on this ship has either," the Captain pointed out, then he gave a grimace. "Besides, I will be busy convincing Maistroff and Caruthers to come to the table and talk sense."

Lisa gave a small smile. "Ah, I see…"

The Captain checked his watch. "He will be arriving in about twenty minutes, we will have the ship land in the main launch bay, so you better be going."

Lisa saluted sharply. "Yes, sir!"

Extinguishing his pipe and setting it down on the table, Gloval reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Good luck, Lisa."

"Thank you, Captain," she smiled and thought as she rendered another quick salute. _I'm so glad to be back here_.

Soon she had commandeered a jeep and was heading towards the main launch bay, going over how she was going to greet this Zentraedi ambassador. "I should have found out how to speak some Zentraedi," she muttered to herself.

Suddenly she slammed on the breaks.

The tyres squealed and then locked, the jeep fishtailing.

Quickly she wrenched the steering wheel in the direction of the turn and managed to bring the jeep back under control, coming to a stop.

"Lisa!"

She was still trying to catch her breath when Rick appeared at the driver's side door.

"Lisa, God, are you all right?"

Pushing back her hair she looked up at him. "I'm fine."

"Geeze, I'm…I was just out for a run…" Rick blabbered, his face pale. "I didn't…I mean…geeze."

Lisa gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, it's my fault, I should have been watching where I was going."

"Well…I **was** running in the middle of a thoroughfare," Rick admitted, he looked down at his watch. "Where are you to in such a hurry at this hour?"

Lisa raised her eyebrows. "You haven't heard?"

"Uh, no," Rick shook his head.

"The Zentraedi have declared a cease-fire, I'm –"

"They've declared a **what**?" Rick's eyes were so wide they looked as if they might pop out of his head.

"A cease-fire," Lisa repeated, "they're sending an ambassador, Captain Gloval told me to meet him." She took a quick look at the clock on the dashboard. "I've got ten minutes to get to the Main Launch Bay, so…um…"

She had been about to drive off, but then considered. Rick had also been a POW in a Zentraedi ship and no doubt he would be called to attend the meeting with the Zentraedi ambassador anyway…

Previously, Lisa never would have veered from an order, but things had changed.

"Why don't you come along?" She asked. "I have no idea what I'm going to say, maybe you can help."

Rick looked almost as surprised as she was at her words. But he shrugged and coming around the front of the jeep climbed into the passenger seat, buckling his seat belt he turned and grinned at her.

"Just try and drive a bit more carefully, huh?"

Lisa raised an eyebrow at him, then pressing hard on the accelerator sent the jeep roaring off.

* * *

Dressed in a rough blue sack cloth, Exedore stood nervously atop one of the consoles in the Scout Ship that was swiftly on its way towards the SDF-1.

There had not actually been a response to the peace message and Exedore was a little concerned that they might be blown to smithereens.

Lord Breetai had been of the opinion, though, that those aboard the SDF-1 **had** heard, and even if they hadn't the Scout Ship operator would make a further announcement once they were in short-wave radio range.

In all his nos, Exedore had never been micronised and the sensation was unnerving. The process had taken quite a bit longer than normal due to his less than robust physiology and he felt extremely chilled.

"How soon until we make radio contact?" He asked the Scout Ship operator as he wrapped his arms around himself.

"In about twenty mil, Advisor," He replied, his voice extremely loud in Exedore's ears.

"Twenty mil," he murmured to himself, "it can't come quick enough."

* * *

In the Bridge of the SDF-1 the Bridge Bunnies and Claudia waited nervously as the Scout Ship came closer.

Despite the peace message, they were all on high alert in case of any possibility that it was a trick, Claudia had been given orders to fire the main gun if there was any sign of hostility.

The hatch to the Bridge slid open and Captain Gloval hurried in.

"How is it going, ladies?" He asked, pulling on his cap and looking out the view port at the approach Zentraedi vessel.

"They'll make contact in approximately two minutes, sir," Claudia informed him, her finger poised above the red button on her console that fired the main gun. "We haven't had any radio contact with them yet, though."

"Hmmm," the Captain grumbled, narrowing his eyes. "I sincerely hope this isn't a ruse…"

As if in answer to his comment there was a brief siren and Vanessa called. "I'm receiving a transmission from the alien ship, sir."

"Play it on the loud speaker, please."

"Attention, Commander of the SDF-1, our ship is unarmed and is carrying our ambassador, Adviser Exedore. We request that you allow us to dock with your ship to begin negotiations."

The Captain pursed his lips thoughtfully, and as the ship came closer and showed no sign of firing he nodded.

"I'll transmit a message back to them. Claudia, can you get their signal."

Claudia made a few inputs. "Go ahead, sir."

The Captain cleared his throat and then began. "This is Captain Henry Gloval, your message has been received. Please take your ship to the co-ordinates indicated –" he nodded at Vanessa- "our ship's Executive Officer will meet your ambassador."

A moment later, the Zentraedi ship pilot responded. "Message received, heading to co-ordinates."

As it did, it disappeared from view, Vanessa continued to track it on the threat board.

"All right then, I have to get to the conference room, I know I can depend on you four to keep everything under control up here."

"Yes, sir!" The Bridge Bunnies and Claudia returned, each giving a salute.

"Alert me immediately if there's any movement from the main Zentraedi Fleet," he added as he headed towards the hatch. "And keep weapon systems at the ready just in case."

"Aye, aye, sir," Claudia called.

With one final nod, the Captain disappeared through the hatch.

A few more minutes passed.

"This is a bit tense, isn't it?" Sammie finally broke the silence.

"Yeah," Kim sighed. "I really hope this peace thing is for real, how much longer can we go on with this war, anyway?"

"I know!" Having spoken, Sammie seemed unable to stop. "We've been fighting and fighting! It sucks!"

"**Ahem**," Claudia cleared her throat, warningly, Sammie and Kim quickly turned in here directions. "I can completely sympathise with you, girls, but we've got things to concentrate on here, hmmm?"

"Oh yeah," Kim quickly began going over her readouts.

"Right, back to work," Sammie muttered returning to her duties too.

Shaking her head, Claudia returned her attention to the Zentraedi Fleet, silent, but still threatening.

* * *

To Rick's relief, Lisa's initial burst of speed had been to razz him, and they arrived at the Main Launch Bay at a decent speed and came to a smooth stop.

One of the bay techs was waiting to admit the Zentraedi ship and saluted as Lisa and Rick climbed out of the jeep.

"Commander. Uh…Lieutenant."

"Tech Pang," Lisa returned. "The alien ship is in sight then?"

"I'll be opening the airlock in ten seconds," Pang informed her, giving Rick a curious look, obviously not sure who he was.

Rick considered introducing himself, if only to get the guy to stop staring at him (he hated that), but before he could there was a buzz from the Tech's console.

Immediately, Pang started making inputs. "Bay doors opening to admit vessel," he announced.

Watching through the view port, Rick watched the massive doors opening and one of the smaller Zentraedi ships come in.

"Weird looking things," Rick muttered to himself, looking over the rather organic looking green coloured vessel as it landed.

"Vessel has successfully entered launch bay," Pang reported, "gravity levels normal. Doors will now be closed."

In a few minutes Pang declared it was safe to enter the huge area to greet the Zentraedi ambassador, Rick followed Lisa into the bay and watched as a huge hatch in the Zentraedi ship opened and a set of stairs unfolded.

Rick had seen a full sized Zentraedi up close and not all that long ago, really, but he was still shocked and took an involuntary step back as the huge pilot of the ship descended the steps.

Pulling off his helmet he looked around, not seeing Rick and Lisa for a moment, then finally seeming to remember where he was, he looked down.

"Greetings, micronians," he said in a loud booming voice.

"Uh…greetings," Lisa returned in a loud voice, then threw a worried look at Rick. "The message said the ambassador would be micronised…"

"Oh wait," the Zentraedi pilot suddenly said, almost to himself, turning he went back to his ship.

Rick's heart jumped and an avalanche of suspicions came down on him. "You don't think-"

The alien reappeared, not with a gun, but with a tiny figure on his palm, which he was speaking to in Zentraedi, looking rather sheepish. Rick figured he was apologising for his forgetfulness.

Bending the alien set the figure on the ground in front of them.

_Woah._

A number of the Zentraedi defectors hadn't looked as human as others, but this was the first one Rick had seen that looked distinctly alien.

At the same time there was something familiar about the hunched, purple skinned Zentraedi in front of them, Rick struggled to place him.

"Greetings from the Zentraedi," the alien began. "I am Advisor Exedore."

Despite her claims of not knowing what to do at times like this, Lisa spoke easily.

"Greetings, I'm Commander Lisa Hayes, Executive Officer on board SDF-1."

Exedore's eyes narrowed and he looked at Lisa for a long moment, then looked at Rick for just as long. At the same moment, they realised why the other was familiar.

"You were two of the micronian captives!" Exedore announced at the same time as Rick said.

"You were one of the aliens who interrogated us!"

"Well, this is quite a coincidence," Exedore continued, with what appeared to be a smile. "The glove is on the other foot as you micronians would say."

Rick was confused for a moment, then realised what Exedore was getting at. He was about to correct him, but Lisa gave him a look.

"Let me assure you," she told the Zentraedi, "we won't be quite as…**harsh** as you were to us."

Exedore looked rather embarrassed, his purple cheeks taking on a decidedly pinkish hue. "I…uh…thank you for that."

"If you'd come along, we'll get you some clothes," Lisa continued.

Exedore seemed to notice for the first time that his current attire really didn't fit in. "Oh, of course."

Lisa took the lead heading towards the hatch back into the Launch Bay Control Room, Rick and Exedore in tow.

And the vessel pilot, who also took a step, which made the floor shudder.

Lisa turned around. "Uh…" she looked at Exedore a little nervously. "I'm sorry to say your…uh…attendant won't be able to come with us," she gestured towards the hatchway. "The SDF-1's doors aren't catered for his size."

"I understand," Exedore assured her, turning back to the pilot he spoke to him in Zentraedi.

The pilot brought his fist to his chest and grumbled something in reply.

"He'll remain here…although, if I may request it, can you bring him something to eat?"

Rick cocked an eyebrow, taking another look at the alien. _Something to eat? We'll have to bring 'em a whole lot more than __**something**__…How 'bout an entire buffet._

Lisa looked just as thrown as he did, but only briefly and then nodded. "That won't be a problem," she assured him, "Captain Gloval is waiting for us in the Conference Room."

"Of course, of course," Exedore nodded, looking almost excited. "Let's move along then."

As Rick followed Lisa and Exedore through the Launch Bay Control Room back to the jeep he couldn't help but pity poor Tech Pang, who Lisa passed on the request for food for the Zentraedi pilot to.

As Rick climbed into the back seat of the jeep, he looked over his shoulder and saw Pang shake his head at the huge Zentraedi through the view port, then pick up a communicator from his console.

* * *

Dressed in one of the micronian's military uniforms Exedore felt a lot more comfortable, at least physically.

But every sight he saw shocked him more and more…

The reports of Rico, Konda and Bron had not prepared him adequately, obviously they had held back, they were driving through the streets of what the two micronians who had met up with him as 'Macross' where the bulk of the ship's population lived in a non-military manner.

Lights, sights and sounds surrounded him and everywhere he looked micronians in different uniforms congregated, male and female, of various ages.

It made his head spin.

He pushed down his shock, he was after all here on a mission, Lord Breetai wanted him to not only negotiate, but get an idea of the micronian culture himself, so he (and his Commander in turn) would know why so many of their brethren had been so taken by it.

"Uh…so…all this…" he began slowly, looking about, "is how your people live?"

The male micronian, Lt. Hunter, turned around in his seat. "Pretty much."

Exedore swallowed. "Well, it's…it's quite different from our cruisers, isn't it."

"Totally," Lt. Hunter nodded, he had of course been aboard Lord Breetai's flagship.

Exedore looked about, repelled, but at the same time drawn in and then…

His eyes widened and the colour rose in his cheeks.

"Uh…oh…" He tried to choke out.

Lt. Hunter looked at him with some concern. "Hey, are you OK?" He turned towards the female. "Lisa, maybe you better pull over-"

Exedore held up a hand. "No, no, I'm…uh…fine, but- but that…that image up there, what is that?" He pointed.

Lt. Hunter followed where his finger was pointing and looked stunned himself.

The image in question was a top one of the structures that so populated the place. It was a female…wearing a…

Exedore didn't know **what** it was, at least not until he recalled the first report Rico, Konda and Bron had made.

"_There were females!"_

"_And they were all wearing these little…"_

"_It hardly covered anything at all! Just on the chest and –"_

"An image of one of your defences?" He recalled.

"Uh…" Lt. Hunter looked at the image then at Commander Hayes beside him. "Yeah…that's right…Best we don't talk about it, it's…you know…hush hush."

Exedore nodded and sat back in his seat, satisfied, although he noticed Commander Hayes's shoulders shaking slightly, as if she was…laughing…at such a serious time!

_A strange race indeed._


	40. Chapter 40

"_Well, there's something you don't see every day…and thank God for that."_ Commander Roy Fokker on Exedore Formo's actions during the following events

* * *

Roy had been forced to give up on Rick, Gloval had called his mobile just a minute ago to tell him the conference would be starting in a half hour. The Captain though, had seemed not too concerned about Rick's whereabouts, so obviously he knew something Roy didn't.

Arriving outside Conference Room 1, adjusting his uniform jacket he found Max and Miriya all ready there.

_Looks like the Brass decided Mrs. Sterling proved her worth yesterday,_ Roy thought, looking over Miriya's RDF uniform, a rather eclectic colour mix of lavender, green piping and yellow.

"Couldn't find the Boss?" Max asked looking rather concerned.

Roy gave a shrug. "I've got a feeling he'll show up, Rick tends to do that."

Any further conversation was ended by the hatch of the conference room opening revealing Captain Gloval with Colonels Maistroff and Caruthers, both of whom looked like they'd eaten something decidedly off for breakfast.

"Ah, Commander Fokker, Lt Sterling and Ensign Parina," Gloval greeted them rather jovially. "It looks like you three are the first to arrive, come in."

Despite his long association with the SDF-1, Roy had never actually been in Conference Room 1, the place was absolutely cavernous, huge screens covered the four walls and in the centre of the room was a bank of computers, no doubt for techs to take notes on.

On the other side of the room was what Roy could only think of as "the interrogation chair" since it was set apart from the u-shaped conference desk that took up the rest of room.

"Wow, that looks friendly," he heard Max whisper to his wife.

"I've just received word from Commander Hayes, she, Lt Hunter and the Zentraedi ambassador will be here very shortly as will the rest of the conference personnel." Gloval told them, the fact he was tugging on his cap every few seconds belying the calmness in his voice.

Roy raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know diplomacy was Rick's strong suit."

Gloval cracked a smile. "I believe Commander Hayes just happened to run into him, and considering that Lt. Hunter also had experience as a POW on a Zentraedi ship, it was probably not a bad idea to bring him along."

Roy heard Maistroff mutter to Caruthers. "Typical, what do orders mean on this ship anyway?"

Roy was extremely tempted to give the man something to complain about, but he didn't want to make trouble for Gloval, so held off.

Fortunately, more people arrived at the Conference Room breaking into the rather tense atmosphere. They were mostly Robotech Scientists, including Lang and techs, but there was also the Commander in Chief of the Destroid Troops and the three Zentraedi ex-spies.

Finally, after taking a quick call on the communicator in his chair, Gloval announced to those assembled that the Zentraedi ambassador was about to arrive and everyone needed to take a seat.

_God help me if I'm next to Caruthers and Maistroff, _Roy thought, picking the seat closest to him.

Luckily the Colonels were at the other end of the room and decided to stay there.

When everyone was finally seated, the doors to the Conference Room slid open and they all turned to see Lisa and Rick on either side of…

_Holy…_Roy's eyes widened.

It had to be the strangest looking Zentraedi he'd ever seen and it wasn't as if there hadn't been some extremely odd looking ones among the defectors.

He shot a quick look at the Zentraedi spies and then at Miriya all of whom were staring at the newcomer in astonishment and recognition.

_Hmmm…well, I guess they all can't be lookers._

_

* * *

  
_

The moment had arrived, Gloval got to his feet and everyone else followed suit, even Maistroff and Caruthers.

"Captain Gloval, I present to you the Zentraedi ambassador, Advisor Exedore," Lisa announced, giving him a salute, Lt. Hunter followed suit a few seconds later.

"Thank you Commander Hayes," Gloval nodded, then spoke to the Zentraedi. "I welcome you to the SDF-1, Advisor Exedore, and I hope this will be a productive and successful negotiation."

The hunched Zentraedi brought a fist to his chest. "Thank you Captain, I am most relieved that you allowed me to board your ship after…the events of this conflict." He gave a small cough, then looked about the room with beady black eyes. "I see you have assembled quite a cabal here." His eyes came to rest on Ensign Parina. "First Officer Parina," he greeted her, "Lord Breetai and I were very surprised to see you in the micronian transmission a half lon ago. I dare say the rest of the fleet was as well."

Gloval watched as a blush rose in Miriya's cheeks and she looked down at the table. "Uh…I would not doubt it, Advisor, I um…" she seemed unable to finish.

Exedore didn't seem too worried about it and shifted his eyes to Max. "And this I believe is your…'groom', is that the term?"

"Yes, Advisor, this is Maximillian Sterling."

Max, who seemed at a loss, nodded his head to the Zentraedi advisor.

"Hmmm, you must have great skill to have enticed the most able of our pilots to agree to a union."

"Er…well…" Max also blushed and looked down at the table. Gloval gave a small smile at the sight of the man's shyness.

The Advisor's eyes then fell on the three Zentraedi ex-spies on the other side of the room. "Ah, Officers Rico, Konda and Bron."

The three leapt to their feet as if they'd received an electric shock, and brought a fist to their chests crying in unison.

"Advisor Exedore!"

"You remember how to greet your superiors," Exedore remarked, looking almost amused. "I am surprised."

The three Zentraedi seemed to be choking, but finally Rico managed to say.

"We meant no disrespect to you or Lord Breetai personally by defecting."

"Yeah," Bron added, nodding hard. "We just couldn't resist the micronian society, you know…"

"Yes, surely you saw all the amazing things they have when you were brought to this room," Konda spoke so quickly it was almost impossible to understand him. "It was just –"

Exedore put up a hand. "Yes, yes, I understand your point of view," he assured them. "I have not been sent here to punish you."

The three Zentraedi looked very relieved to hear that and even more relieved when Exedore turned from them to look at Gloval again. "The Zentraedi have never attempted to broker peace, Captain Gloval, so you will have to excuse me for not knowing the procedure. How should we begin?"

Gloval took a quick look at Maistroff and Caruthers who were still staring, dumbfounded at Advisor Exedore. He suppressed a sigh. _There'll be no help from that quarter._

"We can begin with you taking that seat up there," he gestured towards it, "so that everyone assembled here will be able to easily see and hear what you have to say. Commander Hayes," he nodded towards Lisa, who stepped forward to direct the ambassador to the seat in question.

Once he was seated, one of the techs came over with a glass of orange juice on a tray. It was after all, standard procedure to make ambassador's feel at home, although Gloval had a feeling that orange juice wasn't in the Zentraedi experience.

"Here's a drink, Ambassador," the tech said, "you must be thirsty after your long journey."

Exedore looked extremely surprised, whether it was by the orange juice or by a female offering him something, Gloval couldn't say. "Oh, thank you," he reached out and took the glass, looking it over carefully before taking a small sip.

For a brief second it looked as if he was going to spit the juice out, but the he swallowed, his black eyes wide. "My word, what is this?"

"It's orange juice, Ambassador," the tech replied, putting a hand to her mouth. "It's not sour is it? It was just freshly squeezed this morning –"

"Fresh? You mean…it's organic?"

The tech looked completely mystified. "Yes, of course…from the hydroponic farms we have aboard."

"Hydroponic," Exedore repeated, then took another small sip of the juice. "You **grow** things for nutrition then?" He then turned towards the three ex-spies. "You did not mention this."

Rico paled (if that was possible with his all ready white complexion) and winced. "Well, Advisor…it was just…uh…"

"It didn't seem important," Konda blurted. "Organic food isn't dangerous."

"Well, as long as you prepare it right," Bron added, then gave a small grin as if remembering something amusing.

"Hmmm," Exedore murmured again, setting the glass down and looking at Gloval. "Your race is indeed an amazing one. You lack the great size and fire power of the Zentraedi, yet you able to build and rebuild…you are able to grow food for consumption **and** you have managed to keep us from taking back this fortress against all odds."

"Well…" Gloval looked at Lisa who was sitting to his right and then at Lang who was on his left. "We find your race quiet as amazing, as well, your technology for example?"

"Ah, but you see, that is not **our** technology," Exedore replied, shaking his head. "That is why we are unable to repair it or better it as you micronians do. It was given to us, by the _Modomillian_."

Whispers broke out around the table at this news, but Gloval quickly lifted his hand for silence.

"_Modomillian_? Who are they?"

"In your language, I believe, the translation would be 'Masters', **they** are the ones who discovered protoculture, and who made all the ships, weaponry and mecha in the Zentraedi arsenal." Exedore paused then gestured around. "One particular Master built this fortress."

"Only **one**?" Maistroff spluttered. "I can't believe it!"

"The Masters are extremely powerful, they did after all, create the process that allowed us, the Zentraedi to be macronised."

This came as a surprise, not just to Gloval, but everyone in attendance.

"I thought it was the other way around," Konda said, eyes wide.

"Most Zentraedi do, after all the history of our race is not really necessary for you to know. But yes, in truth the Zentraedi were originally 'human sized' as you would put it," he looked at Gloval. "Through the power of the Masters however, we became giants."

Gloval stroked his moustache, thoughtfully, thinking. Lisa leaned towards him and whispered. "May I ask him some questions, sir?"

"Certainly," Gloval nodded.

Clearing her throat, Lisa stood up. "Where are the Masters now? How come they aren't with you?"

"You can hardly expect them to risk their lives by coming with us," Exedore looked at her incredulous. "**We** serve as their protection. They are after all, micronians themselves."

"What?" This time it was Ensign Parina who gasped. "But…how…how can we Zentraedi be controlled by micronians?"

"As I said, they provide us with our technology, without them we could not exist."

"What about the Master who built this ship?" Lisa asked. "Why did it come to our planet, was it a mistake?"

"That is uncertain. The Master in question was called Zor, he was by far the most intelligent of all the Masters, which is why we fought so hard to reclaim this ship undamaged. It most certainly has technology aboard never seen before, technology the other Masters want. Zor, for reasons unknown, turned against the rest of them, once he constructed this ship, he sent it away. Whether he meant to send it to **your** planet, no-one knows, he was killed before he could be interrogated."

Lisa then asked the big question. "What sort of technology did the Masters think would be aboard?"

Exedore looked somewhat taken aback. "Well…the Protoculture Matrix of course."

Once again whispers were heard around the table.

"Protoculture Matrix?" Caruthers repeated. "What the Hell is that?"

Exedore turned to him. "The Protoculture Matrix," he repeated, "is the very core of this ship, you **must** know of it! Perhaps under another name-?"

At this point Lang raised his hand. "I am afraid to say, ve do not. It is true that ve have found a number of generators aboard that power the ship and our various mecha. But the vord matrix suggests something that vill make new generators, we have found nothing like that."

"What?" Exedore shook his head. "That's impossible! It **has** to be here, Zor himself told us it was aboard with his last words."

"Vell, I cannot say it is impossible that it is here. There are many parts of this ship that ve have not gone through. And of course, there are the missing fold drives."

"Missing fold drives?" Exedore repeated, then realisation dawned on him. "That is why you did not immediately fold back to Earth…or elsewhere after that first time. If the Matrix was within the drives, and it seems as good a place to put them as anywhere, then…it is gone."

Gloval swallowed, as a realisation dawned on him as well…_If that Matrix was the only reason the Zentraedi did not destroy us, what will they do now that it seems it's gone…?_

_

* * *

  
_

"**What** is going on out there?" Azonia demanded as she paced her bridge. Some mil ago a bizarre sight had been observed on the comm. screen, what appeared to be a Zentraedi scout ship boarding Zor's Fortress. "**Why** have the micronians allowed a Zentraedi aboard? If this is a surrender why has Breetai not ordered us to change co-ordinates?"

Yiata stood beside the command chair, watching her, now she shook her head. "If I may speak freely, my Lady, I don't believe that the micronians have given up."

"Well, then what is Breetai's game?" Azonia whirled to face her, clenching one hand into a fist. "I am tired of been excluded!"

Yiata had never seen her commander quite so angry not even during the verbal battles with Lord Khyron. It gave her a bad feeling.

"If the micronians haven't given up, yet are willing to allow a Zentraedi ship aboard that means…" Azonia trailed off, hesitant to say the words, for which Yiata didn't blame her. In fact she hoped that Her Ladyship didn't…

"It means that **we**, the Zentraedi are the ones who have given up!"

Yiata suppressed a shudder. _No, it cannot be!_

But all the evidence seemed to point that way.

"This cannot stand," Azonia racked her hands through her short blue hair, her purple eyes flashing with something that was almost madness. "Surrender, Zentraedi don't surrender…they fight…to the death."

Yiata nodded, but she found her commander's fury extremely intimidating and for once in her life wished she could be anywhere but on the bridge.

Azonia strode to the communicator and grabbed hold of it. "Techs, I want to be patched through to His Excellency Lord Dolza, and I want to be patched through **now**."

The techs looked at each other, and for the briefest moment it looked as if they would object, after all the prerogative of whether or not to contact His Excellency was really Lord Breetai's.

But the look on Azonia's face convinced them to do as she ordered.

It was a complicated process to get through to the Main Fleet, which apparently had been on the move since the last communication. After 10 mil however there was success.

"Contact is made," a tech called from her station.

The comm. screen appeared on the command bubble.

"Great Dolza," Azonia thumped her chest in a salute.

"Lady Azonia," Dolza grumbled, and Yiata barely managed to suppress a wince, His Excellency did **not** look pleased. "What is the meaning of this…has Lord Breetai being killed in battle."

Azonia shook her head. "No, Your Excellency."

Dolza raised his eyebrows. "What? Why then are you reporting to me? I speak only to the Group Commander."

He seemed ready to cut the transmission, but Azonia quickly raised a hand. "No, wait! I have something of great importance to report…something Lord Breetai will **not** tell you."

Dolza froze and narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"I believe that…Lord Breetai is attempting to negotiate with the micronians, there has been defection among the ranks."

"**WHAT**?!" Dolza roared and though he was millions of light years from them, Yiata could have sworn she felt the floor shake. "Defectors?!"

Azonia nodded. "A number from Lord Breetai's ship," she added.

Dolza had curled his hands into fists. "Defectors," he growled. "How can it be?"

"It seems to be the micronians, Your Excellency, they are dangerous."

For a few long mil, there was utter silence. "Yes, yes, they are."

There was something in His Excellency's face that Yiata found particular ominous, but she could not think what it was.

"It is time to dispense with this, and it calls for supreme force," Dolza spoke almost as if too himself. "I am therefore preparing to fold."

Azonia raised her eyebrows. "You, Your Excellency?"

"Yes, with the entire fleet, whatever this micronians have, aboard the Fortress or on their planet cannot stand up to the power of our entire force."

A smile spread across Azonia's lips. "No, Your Excellency, it cannot. When can we expect your arrival?"

Knowing the last location of the Grand Fleet Yiata was surprised by His Excellency's answer.

"A quarter of a lon."

Azonia was surprised too. "That soon?"

"We have been on the move," Dolza growled, looking affronted by been questioned.

Azonia seemed to realise her mistake as well. "I..uh…I will prepare for your arrival, Your Excellency."

"Hmmm, yes," Dolza crossed his arms and seemed to be thinking. "When we meet, Lady Azonia."

And with that he broke the connection.

Azonia was calm, she returned to her command chair and sat, looking extremely satisfied.

But Yiata felt a shiver of fear go through her.

There was something about the way the Great Dolza had ended his communication. Something that filled her with dread.

* * *

Rick saw the look on Gloval's face and leaned towards Roy to whisper.

"This doesn't look too good does it?"

Roy shook his head. "Doubt it."

They both turned to look at the Zentraedi Advisor who was resting his chin on his fist and appeared to be thinking very hard.

"I must say…I am quite surprised by all this," he finally began, "I also note that this meeting is missing two very important people."

Rick furrowed his brows, and noticed a lot of confusion among the rest of those in the room. _What's he talking about?_

"I understand the necessity of course, one does not wish to expose the most important members of their battle group when the enemy is so unknown. I believe, though, I have proven that we Zentraedi can be trusted. I ask then, that you bring them here, so we can get down to the proper negotiations."

"What is he talking about?" Rick whispered aloud, "everyone who's anyone is here," he gestured towards the other side of the table.

"And even some who aren't," Roy nodded towards Maistroff and Caruthers.

"I am sorry to say, Advisor, that I am not sure what you mean," Captain Gloval voiced the confusion in the room. "I assure you that everyone of strategic importance aboard the SDF-1 is here."

Exedore, however, folded his arms and shook his head. "No, no…where is your great warrior, then? I cannot believe he has died someone of his stature?"

"Great warrior?" Gloval repeated.

"Yes, we saw the transmission, very old battle footage, it also involved a female. A very peculiar one, I must say…who appears to be your great weapon."

"I…a weapon?" Gloval shook his head.

"Yes, she is dressed in non-combat clothing, a clever ruse I am sure, because her power cannot be denied, she is the reason that Zentraedi began to defect."

"Oh my God," Rick whispered, "it can't be…"

Rico, Konda and Bron were also whispering among themselves, probably realising the same thing Rick did.

"She does something with her voice…a very odd thing…" Exedore got to his feet, "accompanied with movement…like this –"

And with that, the hunched purple skinned Zentraedi began to sway from side to side and then in high pitched voice…

"_Stage fright go 'way,_

_This is my big day…_

_This is my time to be a star…"_

Next to him Roy had all but ducked under the desk to hide his laughter. Colonel Maistroff and Caruthers were staring at Exedore as if he was insane, Max looked as if he was half way to laughing himself, Miriya, Lisa, the Captain and the rest of the people at the meeting were just stunned.

"It's Minmei!" Bron stated the obvious.

"Yes!" Thankfully for everyone, Exedore stopped his singing and nodded enthusiastically. "Her and her mate, they are the ones who are missing."

That description made Rick wince. _I can't believe it! Even the Zentraedi think Minmei and Kyle are a couple!_

"Uh…um…well…" Gloval looked at Lisa, who only shrugged helplessly. He turned back to Exedore and it looked as if he was going to try and explain…but then apparently thought again. Picking up the communicator in the arm of his chair he dialled a number.

"Please bring Lynn Kyle and Lynn Minmei to Conference Room 1 immediately please…and don't take no for an answer."

Rick sighed. _Things are about to get even messier._

_

* * *

  
_

"What is this, are we under arrest or something?" Kyle was shouting to be heard as the jeep whipped through the streets of Macross towards the RDF base. "You can't just go around yanking people off the streets. This is just the kind of crap the military constantly pulls."

"Sir, I ask you sit back down and fasten your seatbelt," the solider driving said calmly without taking his eyes off the road.

"Please, Kyle," Minmei pleaded, not wanting this to descend into a fight and certainly not wanting Kyle to be thrown from the vehicle if it happened to need to come to a quick stop.

With a growl Kyle sat down his arms tightly folded. "This is ridiculous! We're being kidnapped, Minmei, don't you see that?"

Minmei shook her head. She didn't know what Captain Gloval wanted, but she had no problem with being called to a conference.

A few minutes later they arrived at the Executive centre of the ship where the conference rooms were located. The solider directed them down the maze of hallways to a large doorway, which he saluted in front of.

Curious by nature, Minmei craned her neck (since Kyle was standing in front of her as if expecting whoever it was on the other side of the door to open fire on them) to see into the room as the hatch slid open.

She couldn't see anything, but as they walked in she heard someone shout.

"Yes, that's them!"

Looking in the direction of the voice, Minmei gasped. The strangest looking man she had ever seen was sitting in a chair upon a raised platform.

He got to his feet and Minmei noticed he was hunchbacked. He looked almost…alien…

"Officer Lynn Kyle, what is your correct rank, please?"

Kyle looked completely taken aback, so did quite a few people in the room who knew of his views.

"Rank? I don't have a rank. I'm a **civilian**," he snarled.

The strange man did not take offence, but he did look disbelieving. "With your powers I think not."

"Powers?" Kyle shook his head. "What are you talking about? Who are you?"

"I am Advisor Exedore, from the 1st Division of the Zentraedi Fleet."

"Zentraedi?" Minmei gasped no wonder the man looked as he did.

"Ah, Officer Minmei!" the Advisor noticed her and actually seemed to **bow** to her! "I am honoured to meet you. A warrior of your powers…you surely know of the Protoculture Matrix, even if your fellows here don't."

Minmei blinked everything the alien said went over her head.

"What?"

"I assure you, you are safe to show your powers to me, I am not armed, I think even if I was I'd be no match for you two."

"Powers," Captain Gloval was shaking his head. "I think you've misunderstood something you've seen in our transmissions, Advisor. We have no great powers."

The alien looked stunned. "What? How could there be a misunderstanding? That battle record showed how you first defeated a giant race, quite possibly our ancestors."

"I think he's talking about _Small White Dragon_."

The voice made Minmei turn in surprise. It had been so long…but there was Rick! Seeing him made Minmei realised how much she had missed his company over the long months. What had happened to their friendship?

"_Small White Dragon_?" The alien furrowed his misshapen brow.

"It is a movie, made for entertainment," the Captain informed him. "The 'powers' you saw were special effects. They aren't real."

The alien looked extremely disappointed, but then he looked at Minmei again. "Well, maybe Office Kyle's powers are not real, but Officer Minmei's **are**, you cannot deny the power of her song!"

There was excited talking from one end of the room and Minmei noticed the three Zentraedi ex-spies. She had heard about them, how they and their fellow Zentraedi were practically her biggest fans. Indeed, they were staring at her, with colour in their cheeks.

"Certainly, I wouldn't dream of that," the Captain was saying. "But our reason behind singing does not involve weaponry in any way."

"But…its affects…on our soldiers…the defectors," the alien stuttered, shaking his head.

"If I might say something," Commander Hayes raised a hand. "I think this might be a case of culture shock."

The alien turned to her. "Culture…" he murmured, "yes…of course-"

Whatever he was about to say next was cut off by the ringing of a communicator on Captain Gloval's chair. He picked it up, his eyes widening. "Advisor Exedore, there's a transmission from your flagship…I believe it's your Commander. There's a communicator in your chair arm."

The alien picked it up and put it to his ear, speaking in a strange guttural language.

When he put down the communicator, his strange eyes looked even stranger. "Well, I'm afraid I have very bad news…I have just been informed by my Commander that the Zentraedi Grand Fleet is on its way…comprising of four million, eight hundred thousand warships."

There was a huge intake of breath in room and Minmei grabbed Kyle's arm. _Oh my God,_ she thought in horror. _That many?!_

"And their purpose is to destroy not only this ship, but the Zentraedi Imperial Fleet that is all ready here and your planet as well."


	41. Chapter 41

"_I can say now with absolutely certainty, that the phrase 'The End' is one that should only be in books"_ From Lisa Hayes's Journals

* * *

Jean Thomas sunk down on the couch in the staff room with a sigh of relief.

It had been an unbelievably tough day, although her superior Dr. Andrew Morton warned her that there would be more and more of those days as she worked through her internship.

Not that Jean regretted her choice to enter medicine, not by a long shot, but still…

Resting her left arm up on the couch back she looked down at the diamond ring on her finger. It was still hard to believe the events of a few days ago had really happened, but there was the proof sparkling in the sunlight.

She wondered what Vince was up to at the moment, no doubt he was on the Base in Meridian, helping with the designs for a new fighter.

When the SDF-1 had Macross Island had disappeared they had taken nearly all of the Veritechs in the world with them. The few that remained were scattered at various UEDC facilities.

However, the ability to manufacture Veritechs had also followed the SDF-1 and Macross Island into oblivion.

Jean had no idea why the military had confined the manufacturing of what was supposed to be the premiere defence system of Earth to just one location, but she decided not to bother dwelling on it. At the very least it gave Vince something to do, something to keep his mind off his sister and her fate.

Jean had only meet Claudia a few times, but she had liked her and her no-nonsense way of going through life at lot. Jean, too, thought honesty was the best policy, even if, sometimes, it wasn't particularly welcomed by those it was directed at.

There was a television in the staff room and picking up the remote Jean switched it on, hoping there was some light-hearted comedy or lame soap opera to help her wind down.

Instead it was news.

Rolling her eyes Jean changed the channel, only to find that the news was on every channel.

Her stomach dropped as she remembered the times that this had happened…

Throughout the Global Civil War for instance.

And when the SDF-1 first crashed on Earth and of course when it and Macross Island disappeared.

Forcing down the sense of unease, Jean concentrated on the broadcast.

"The UEG has refused to comment, citing international security," the anchorwoman was saying. "However, the citizens of various towns north of Anchorage have reported distortions in radio, TV and mobile signals for weeks. In fact Craig Mitchell onsite in Alaska was unable to file a visual report from the area and instead had to communicate by landline. We take you now to his report and warn you that the interference is rather extreme."

Jean winced as a loud buzzing filled the room, beneath barely intelligible was the voice of Craig Mitchell.

"As you can no doubt hear, the disturbances in the electro-magnetic field are almost overwhelming out here. All forms of communication have been severely affected and as of late lights have begun flickering intermittedly, resulting in the need for candles. It's all become a bit primitive out here. Local citizens are certain that it has to do with a UEF base, which is thought to be located somewhere in this area. However all attempts to speak with the UEG on this matter have met with a wall of silence. Many are concerned however that these disturbances can only indicate preparations for a massive attack, on a scale that has never been seen before. -"

At that point the buzzing became so loud, Jean actually covered her ears. After a few seconds it passed and Mitchell's voice could be heard again. "There are murmurings that the rumours of an alien attack are no longer just rumours. However, no further information has been gleaned. This reporter will remain on this case for as long as it takes, however. Craig Mitchell, WBS News."

Jean breathed a sign of relief as the buzzing ended and the screen switched from an image of Alaska to the WBS anchor.

"WBS will report on this situation immediately if any new information comes to light. This is Carol Weston from World Broadcast System News."

At that point the news ended and the TV began showing the comedy show that had presumably been interrupted.

But Jean was no longer interested, something about the news report had given her chills and she hurried to her locker to find her mobile phone.

Once she had it in hand, she dialled Vince's number and waited for him to answer.

After ten rings however, she had to admit defeat. _Damn that man, how many times have I told him to set up his message bank?_ She thought, shaking her head.

Instead she sent him a message, hoping that he'd get back to his mobile sooner rather than later.

_Something very strange is going on here…_ Jean thought, as she slipped her phone into her pocket and prepared to leave for the day.

* * *

Order in the meeting had totally disintegrated at Advisor Exedore's announcement and the talking had almost reached fever pitch.

Roy noticed that beside him, Rick seemed to be in shock.

"Hey, chin up, little bro, you can't win a war looking like that."

Rick though, was in no mood to be cheered up. "We won't win this war no matter **how** we look, Roy."

That was pretty obvious, but something had to be said for positive thinking.

He decided not to press the issue, not that he could have anyway, since Gloval called the meeting back to order.

"Advisor Exedore, you say that Zentraedi fleet currently here will also be destroyed?"

"Most certainly," the strange little alien nodded. "We have been contaminated and if we were allowed to return to the Grand Fleet we would risk further contaminating them as well."

"So you are willing therefore to stand with us?" Gloval continued, then he paused. "If I may ask…why? I don't imagine that is the standard action."

"Oh no, Captain, the standard would be for us to preparing to willing lay down our lives."

"A mass suicide?" Lisa gasped, then covered her mouth.

"If I understand that term correctly, then yes. It is known as _Kara Brek_."

Roy noticed that the four Zentraedi in the room bowed their heads almost automatically at the mention of that word.

"But you have decided not to do so this time?"

Advisor Exedore smiled wryly. "No, I guess you may say then, that Great Dolza, our Grand Commander is right, we **have** been contaminated."

"Well, I am glad," Gloval nodded. "Especially seeing as it means we have you on our side."

"I am sure that I don't need to say that this is not likely to be a battle we can win, Captain," Exedore looked at each person in the room seriously (including Minmei and Kyle). "Our chances would be far greater if we were to fold from this area immediately. Your ship could dock with Lord Breetai's."

"And leave the Earth defenceless?" Gloval said exactly what Roy was thinking. "No, it can't be done. We have a sworn duty to protect the Earth, we cannot go back on it."

Roy nodded in agreement, noticing that Lisa did as well and even more surprisingly, Caruthers and Maistroff followed suit! _Well, nothing like an armada of nearly 5 million ships to show you where your priorities are._

Advisor Exedore looked stunned. "But…your planet banished you from its surface."

"That is true, but it is still our home and it was only a single group that sought to condemn us. There are billions of innocent people there who have no idea what is going on. We cannot abandon them."

The Zentraedi blinked a few times and looked as if he was going to object, but then finally spoke quietly. "I see…"

"The Grand Fleet will follow us wherever we go, won't it?" Lisa spoke up, brushing back her hair nervously. "Here is as good as place as any to fight them, then."

"Yes, but folding would buy us more time," Exedore replied. "But obviously you are not willing to do that…so yes, here we will make our final stand –"

"What?!" There was the sound of a fist pounding the table and Roy turned to see, of all people, Lynn Kyle on his feet. "You're crazy! Five million ships?! There's no way we can beat that many, we're finished!"

The meeting descended into chaos at this and everyone started talking all at once.

"There's the sort of optimism we need at a time like this!" Roy was surprised to hear Lisa of all people shouting at Kyle.

"Where's the peace pipe now?" Roy himself hissed to Rick, not too surprised at Kyle's behaviour.

As the shouting continued and Gloval tried to restore order, Roy noticed Max taking Miriya's hand, which was hardly military behaviour, but Roy couldn't blame them. If Claudia were here he'd probably be hugging her.

He noticed Rick was staring across the room at Minmei and he had to suppress a groan. _Seriously, Little Brother, this is no time for love sick looks._

Finally Advisor Exedore got to his feet and waved his arms. "Please! Please! All is not lost! Listen to me!"

Finally, silence descended on the room.

"I thought you said this was a battle we couldn't win?" Maistroff said accusingly.

"I said it was one we are not **likely** to win," Exedore reiterated. "But it could be done…especially since we have this fortress. I just need an 'hour' as you term it to put together the strategy."

* * *

"The Grand Fleet means to destroy **us**?" Seloy gasped, shaking her head. "But **why**?"

She stared in disbelief at the image of her Commander on screen, Azonia looked pale and almost as stunned as Seloy did herself.

For the past half lon Seloy had been overseeing the punishment of Quadronos who had refused to take up arms during the last battle alert. Of course, she would never admit it, but she had been far more lenient on them then she could have been, since she had had second thoughts herself, especially having heard Miriya's words.

"You know as well as I do, Officer Seloy that we have potential defectors aboard our fleet. Lord Breetai believes therefore, that the Great Dolza will consider us contaminated and expendable."

Seloy swallowed hard. In her lifespan she had the Imperative drilled into her, that sacrifice was honourable in the pursuit of the goal.

Now she found that she didn't want to die and certainly not for something as abstract as 'contamination'.

Still, those in command could certainly never know that, straightening her shoulders then, Seloy asked. "What are we to do, Lady Azonia?"

She expected to hear that preparations for _Kara Brek_ were to begin, but that wasn't what Lady Azonia said.

"Lord Breetai has decided to ally himself with the micronians, he believes that for too long we have allowed our actions to be dictated by the _Modomillian_."

Seloy gasped and unconsciously began to bring her fist to her chest in a salute, as was expected when the 'Modomillian' were mentioned. But she stopped herself, which was a good thing, considering what Lady Azonia said next.

"And I have agreed with him. After all our sacrifices, our loyal and unquestioning service, to be set aside for the actions of a few…"

Seloy found herself nodding in agreement, individuality had never been a big part of the Zentraedi lifestyle, in fact it was generally frowned upon, but what Lady Azonia said made sense, just as what Miriya had said did.

She gave a brisk salute. "It is my honour and privilege to serve with you and Lord Breetai, my lady. "

Lady Azonia smiled and nodded. "I thank you, First Officer Seloy. Great Dolza has all ready begun folding the Grand Fleet, the estimated time of arrival will be in twelve hundred mil."

"That **soon**?!" Seloy cried, then remembering herself added. "My Lady?"

"Apparently the Great Dolza has been moving the fleet closer and closer to our location." Lady Azonia's smile had become wry. "Therefore we have precious little time to prepare ourselves. Begin briefings of your soldier immediately, then."

"Yes, my Lady!" Seloy saluted again.

"May you win every battle, First Officer."

"And you as well, my Lady."

It was only after Lady Azonia ended the transmission that Seloy realised how she had been addressed.

_First Officer…my time has finally arrived…_

_

* * *

  
_

It was more like a two hour break in proceedings before the meeting aboard the SDF-1 got underway again.

Roy took his seat barely able to sit still in his impatience considering everything, the wait had been a bit like a TV show cliff hanger. _Of the worst possible kind,_ Roy added to himself. It had been made even more unbearable by the fact that he hadn't been able to contact Claudia since she was still on the Bridge. Roy had a feeling that he wouldn't have a chance to say goodbye things were unravelling so fast.

The giant screen behind Exedore was now projecting an image of what Roy assumed was the command structure of the enemy fleet. The number of boxes that represented each ship was almost overwhelming, it certainly didn't inspire any hope.

"Now, the Chain of Command in the Zentraedi armada is absolutely paramount," Advisor Exedore began once Gloval brought the meeting to order again. "There is no room for 'creativity' as you call it in our ranks. Most of the time this is to the Zentraedi benefit since our main purpose is destruction of our enemy. In your case however, it is in **your** favour as you have enough time to target its primary weakness."

Roy took a quick look around the table, wondering if everyone else (excepting Minmei and Kyle and maybe the Zentraedi ex-spies) could see what the Advisor was getting at.

"Namely, by destroying the main flagships and finally the Great Dolza's Command Post itself, you will reduce the rest of the Amada to total chaos. They will outnumber us severely, but even so, they will not know what to do with their advantage and so, they will lose it."

"Ingenious," Maistroff of all people responded first. "In other words, we crush the head of the snake." He brought his fist down on the table for emphasis.

Exedore nodded. "However, it will require a calculated plan of attack. Those ships lower down in the command chain will not allow you easy access. Therefore, the Imperial Fleet will attack first."

"You'll go first?" Lisa said, her eyes wide, Roy had to admit he was pretty shocked himself. "But your causalities…?"

"We can afford to lose far more soldiers than you micronians," Exedore spoke blandly. "And for Zentraedi to die in a battle of this magnitude is an honour. You will find them quite willing to lay themselves down for this cause."

Roy shook his head, having a bit of trouble imagining feeling like that.

Gloval spoke, his tone humble. "I am grateful that we are fighting on the same side and though your kind may go into this battle quite willingly, it doesn't change the fact that it will be a great sacrifice for those who only a short time ago were your enemy."

Exedore seemed quite humbled himself and inclined his head. "I thank you for your words, Captain. I take it as your agreement to this plan and ask if I may contact Lord Breetai to relay the details to him."

"Of course." Picking up the communicator from the arm of his chair, Gloval tapped a few numbers into the keypad and then requested contact be made with the flagship of the alien fleet. "You may speak to your Commander now."

* * *

"Grel, begin entering fold inputs," Khyron snapped over his shoulder.

Grel swallowed nervously, he had been dreading this since Khyron had ordered his Battalion's retreat from this sector.

"Uh…" he began, then licked his dry lips finding it almost impossible to continue.

"What is it, Grel?! It's been some lon since we folded, but I'm sure you still know how to do it."

"Of- of course, m'lord, it's just…"

Unfolding his arms and turning to face him squarely Khyron raised a fist. "It's just **what**, Grel? You are trying my patience, Breetai is a fool, I don't care if he is my commanding officer, I will not deign myself to join forces with the micronians."

"I-I know, m'lord," Grel nodded so hard he almost saw spots.

"Well, what are you waiting for?!"

"We…uh…we can't fold, sir."

"**WHAT**?!"

"We don't have the protoculture resources to do so, m'lord," Grel found himself wincing, as if making himself smaller would protect him from Khyron's fury.

Fortunately, his Commander seemed too shocked to react with his usual angry. "We don't have the resources?! How can that be?!"

"We have been running out of protoculture since our last battle in Cuzac Quadrant," Grel explained, continuing to cower. "That- that's why we weren't to destroy the fortress…I…uh…think. It can make more protoculture."

Khyron's eyes narrowed into slits, and Grel prepared himself for death.

But instead his Lord turned on his heel and went back to the front of the bridge. "So! We did need that pathetic vessel for something after all…" He growled to himself.

Silence descended over the bridge for some mil, until finally.

"Give me a radar image of the immediate area, they'll be somewhere we can travel to, I'm sure of it."

The techs looked at each other, Grel knew they were thinking the same thing…why were they, Zentraedi, going into hiding?

But no-one dared ask and before long Khyron was directing them towards a small bank of asteroids.

* * *

"What do you think is happening at that meeting?" Sammie mused.

_Well, she's been quiet for nearly three hours now…that's a record for her._ Claudia thought, shaking her head.

"I mean do you think it's going well?"

"I'm sure it is, they've been at if for hours," Kim replied from her station. "It wouldn't take that long for them to decide to keep up the war."

"I don't know…" Sammie bit a nail nervously. "I mean, maybe they're having a really big argument over it?"

Vanessa gave a short laugh and looked over from the threat board. "They're not breaking **up**, Sammie! It's not like they need to decide who pays for the meal."

Kim giggled, while Sammie looked affronted. She folded her arms. "You two can laugh all you want, but I remember reading that all the attempted ceasefires in the Global Civil War took **days** to break down. A few hours is nothing!"

Kim and Vanessa stopped laughing, realising that Sammie had a point.

Claudia though, decided it was better to intervene. "You're right, Sammie, but still, I think things are going fine after all –"

Suddenly a piercing alarm ripped through the Bridge, Vanessa's threat board lit up and information started pouring into Kim and Sammie's stations.

"What's going on?!" Sammie cried, trying in vain to read the text that flew across her screen.

"I don't know," Kim shook her head.

Claudia looked over at Vanessa, who turned to her after a moment her eyes full of utter terror.

"It's a fold!"

Claudia turned around quickly to see which section of the alien fleet was doing so, but there was no movement there.

"Not from the current fleet," Vanessa continued, "they're folding **in**, not folding out! And…and they're coming in near the Earth!"

"What?" Claudia gasped, and quickly turned her attention to Earth, which was hardly visible from their current location.

But before her eyes bright burst of light were punctuating space, shapes fading in, Zentraedi battle cruisers of all types, some never seen by the Bridge Crew before appearing, masses and masses of them.

"One million," Vanessa's voice was high and tight and her hands were shaking over her console. "One million five hundred thousand, two million …there's…there's too many, Claudia!"

Claudia remembered Lisa's chilling words on her return from been held on one of the Zentraedi flagships, after her debriefing.

"_It was horrifying, Claudia…the aliens have millions of ships…they destroyed a planet that looked just like Earth in less than a minute…"_

"Oh my God," she whispered. "They've come."

For a brief moment, she was frozen, more terrified then she'd ever been in her life as more and more Zentraedi ships came, so many they began to block the Earth from view.

Just as suddenly, she was spurned to action, quickly typing inputs to be put through to Conference Room 1.

"Captain Gloval! We have an emergency, the Zentraedi fleet is folding in, they're surrounding the earth. It looks like…like…they're planning a bombardment."

The communication had been sent so quickly it was only one sided, but she looked over his shoulder at Vanessa. "Patch through an image," she ordered, somehow keeping her voice from shaking. "They have to see it…"

_Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to believe it…_She thought aghast as the Zentraedi ships continued to swarm over the Earth.

* * *

Lisa trembled, the images Claudia was patching through from the Bridge were beyond her worst nightmares.

She had of course, seen the Zentraedi Grand Fleet destroy a planet, but that had been an unknown one, perhaps not even populated, but done merely for show. This, though, **this** was Earth! With its' six billion people, among them…her father.

Maistroff had jumped out of his seat. "What the Hell! I thought you said it would be six hours until the Grand Fleet got here! It's been less than four, damnit, alien, what's your game –"

"Colonel Maistroff!" The Captain shouted. "Sit down!"

The Colonel complied, the tone the Captain used leaving no room for argument.

He turned to Exedore. "I suppose your Grand Commander lied about his time of arrival?" He suggested, sounding eerily calm to Lisa.

Exedore's purple skin had become terribly pale. "It is not like Zentraedi to lie…but then, I have never been part of or seen the way the armada deals with contaminators…"

Minmei, who at Exedore's request had agreed to sing her most loved song _To Be In Love_ for those assembled looked as if she were about to faint. Lisa was about to call for a corpsman when Kyle got up and came to her side, taking her in his arms.

"This changes things…we will need to work very quickly now," Exedore's voice was shaky. "I believe your officer in the Bridge is right, they are preparing to bombard your planet…I thought they would do that last…" he seemed to be almost speaking to himself. "I don't think we will be able to stop them from doing so."

_**No!**_ Lisa almost cried out loud. Despite everything that had happened between them, she couldn't bare the thought of losing her father. She hadn't said goodbye to him, she hadn't told him that despite everything, she loved him and now…he would never know…

Turning away from the screen, from that awful scene she saw Rick, looking in her direction.

It took her a few seconds to realise that he wasn't looking at her, he was looking at Minmei.

_Of course,_ she thought bitterly, shutting her eyes against the tears. _His Minmei…it doesn't matter if she loves him back or not..._

She shook her head, opened her eyes and looked away from Rick Hunter, she had no time to focus on him. If the Earth had any hope at all…it was the SDF-1 and all aboard her would have to focus all they had to win this battle.

* * *

"Four million, five hundred thousand ships, Admiral," the tech called from his station, followed a few seconds later by. "Four million, eight hundred thousand..."

_My God, look at them…_ Donald Hayes shook his head, the large screen in front of him, a map of the earth was covered in dots, entire continents had disappeared beneath them. _There's more than I could have imagined…the Grand Cannon…_

He felt sick, realising that even with the sophisticated add ons to the project, the device that would allow the cannon to sweep in a twenty degree arc, the ability to supplement the protoculture generators with the power of earth's own gravitational and electromagnetic field…

_It's not enough…_

There was one thing he wanted to ask at that moment, what the status of the SDF-1 was. Was Lisa…?

But there was no time for that, and common sense suggested that the armada had probably wiped them out first thing.

_My Lisa,_ a tear rolled down his cheek and he cursed the hard-headedness that had stopped him from even so much as writing a letter to her before she left. The thought that she had died thinking that he had disowned her, that he perhaps even hated her was almost too much to bear. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

"Admiral, sensors are detecting a massive increase in energy levels!" The tech cried, his voice bringing Donald back to the present. "It's not from the Cannon, it's the aliens, sir! They're going to fire!"

Donald got to his feet, grabbing up the nearest communicator and entering the numbers so quickly his hand was almost a blur. "Control Room! Is the Grand Cannon ready to fire?!"

"No, Admiral, not yet we-"

"I want an estimated time, **now**!"

There were a few agonising seconds of silence, Donald wanted to reach through the communicator and shake the tech on the other end. But he knew it wasn't her fault.

"Five minutes, Admiral!"

"Five minutes," he repeated, and looked down at the Tech Samoko at his console.

The tech shook his head.

"Can you do it any faster than that?" Donald demanded, keeping one eye on the giant screen. Tech Samoko was right, the energy levels in the atmosphere were becoming extreme…any minute now…

"I'm…I'm sorry, Admiral…" the tech on the other end of the line sounded as if she were in tears.

"Admiral!" Samoko shouted.

Donald felt it in the air, even six miles down…the power…the devastating power…

It was the end of the world.


	42. Chapter 42

"_It takes a couple seconds to say Hello, but forever to say Goodbye." _Anonymous

* * *

General quarters had sounded only a few moments ago, the meeting with Advisor Exedore abandoned as just about everyone at the meeting was called to their stations.

Roy had run for _Prometheus_ at full tilt, not realising until he arrived that Rick wasn't at his heels.

But before he'd had time to wonder where the Hell his Little Brother had got to, the Zentraedi Grand Fleet had unleashed its' destructive power upon Earth.

Through the observation windows of _Prometheus_ everyone froze, watching the sight that unfolded before them in horror.

From between spaces in the tightly packed armada there was a build up of light, as the entire planet was engulfed.

"God no," Roy whispered, a small guilty part of him realising that as far as he went all those he loved were aboard the SDF-1, safe…for now.

But then he remembered.

Claudia's brother, Vince…

* * *

A wave of destruction spread across the planet, cities exploding under a rain of laser fire.

A little girl was picking flowers. Smiling the UEF solider knelt on one knee beside her.

"And how old are you?"

"Two –"

As the words left her mouth, the entire world turned red and roar filled the air unlike anything heard before.

Grabbing the little girl, the soldier tried to protect her from whatever was happening – but it engulfed them both and they were no more.

In a blink of an eye where once buildings and people, forests and animals nothing remained but clouds of dust and ash.

The clouds in the sky burned away to be replaced by enormous clouds of steam rising from lakes and oceans.

The green was wiped away replaced by barren brown as the earth died.

* * *

Lisa ran onto the Bridge behind Captain Gloval with Exedore in tow.

"The alien armada is firing on the earth, Captain!" Vanessa's horrified voice greeted their arrival.

"Bohze moi," the Captain shook his head, the look on his face was the most hopeless one Lisa had ever seen.

She didn't want to look, didn't want to know what was happening to the planet they all called home, didn't want to imagine what was happening on the surface.

But she had to, it was her duty.

It was worse than she feared, she all put stumbled to her console grabbing hold of it for support. The alien ships were sending blast after blast upon the helpless planet.

Lisa turned away to see Claudia, tears running down her cheeks.

_Her brother,_ Lisa recalled, _her brother's down there!_

_And my father._

But she realised that neither of them were there anymore, they were probably dead…the whole world was dead.

_And it probably won't be very long until we are too…_

But then she straightened her shoulders and tightened her jaw. _But it won't be without a fight!_

_

* * *

  
_

"No! **NO**!"

Minmei pressed her hands against the glass of the view port just outside the Conference Room.

It couldn't be - it was the worst nightmare in the world…

Her mother, her father…

Desperately she wished she had never left them…how could she have? And she hadn't told them everything she'd wanted to. How she loved them even if they hadn't supported her dream.

But it was too late, they were gone…gone forever.

She let her forehead drop against the glass and the tears spill from her eyes.

Someone put an arm around her.

It was Rick…

Minmei had no idea where Kyle had gone, he had probably got off the military base as fast as he could after she had run after Rick, who had come up to her when the battle alert sounded.

She had been stunned at what he had said, that he probably wouldn't be returning from this battle and he wanted her to know, even if she didn't feel the same, that he loved her.

Then he had run through the conference room doors and Minmei struck by what he had said had followed, calling out for him to stop.

She had wanted to tell him…well, she wasn't sure what she had wanted to tell him because before she could the Earth beyond the view port had lit up in a blaze of destruction.

"Oh Rick, they're gone…aren't they," she sobbed.

"I'm sorry, Minmei," Rick replied, his voice so low she could barely hear it.

Trying to pull herself together, Minmei tried to do what she always did when was upset.

Sing.

But she couldn't even get through the first line of _To Be In Love_, what was the point? It was all over.

"We'll be next!" She cried, pounding a fist against the glass. "We'll be next and we might as well accept it! Oh, Mother, Father!"

She was stunned when Rick suddenly took hold of her by her shoulders and turned her to face him. "Minmei! Don't talk like that! We're still here, we have to fight with everything we have."

Minmei shook her head at him. "No, it's too late! Look at them, Rick, Kyle's right, we can't win, we can't!"

Rick winced, whether it was from the mention of Kyle or perhaps at what she said, Minmei didn't know.

"No, Minmei, it's **never** too late."

She hung her head._ How can he believe that?_

When she looked up he was staring out the window, at the armada, she couldn't imagine why, she didn't want to look, to see the end of everything.

Suddenly, Rick turned back to her, his eyes wide. "Minmei, Minmei, listen to me, you **have** to do something, something for all of us."

"Wh-what?"

"**Sing**! You've got to sing!"

She stared at him, wondering if he had gone mad…what did he mean sing? And now?

"It's our only hope," Rick told her, letting go of her shoulders and taking her hand. "Come with me."

To surprised to resist she let him pull her away down to hall towards an elevator…

_Where are we going?_

_

* * *

  
_

"All sectors reporting sixty percent…no…sixty-five precent damage," Tech Samoko's voice was a monotone, as if what was happening was too terrible even for emotion.

Donald Hayes felt frozen inside, despite the noticeable heat in the air from the alien bombardment. Before him, the giant screen darkened as city after city, life after life was extinguished, spreading over the entire map.

It took him a few moments to realise the communicator was ringing and with a hand that didn't seem to be his he reached out and picked it up.

"Hayes."

"Admiral, its Huxley," the voice on the other end choked out. "The aliens… the Grand Cannon…"

"I'm not sure how much good it will do, Huxley," Donald spoke coolly. "But the Grand Cannon will be ready to fire in two minutes."

"Admiral…my God…"

Knowing that Huxley wasn't going to have anything more to say, Donald hung up and redialled.

"Control Room," a small voice said.

"Tech Thompson, prepare the Grand Cannon for firing, full power, we want every power resource fed into it, and for it to sweep the entire twenty degree arc."

He knew as he gave the orders that odds were that the Cannon wouldn't hold and the entire thing would implode, taking them with it.

_But then we'll only be following the innocent people of this planet._ He thought as he set down the communicator. _It's what any decent military man, sworn to protect would do._

He wished desperately that Lisa could have heard his thoughts…perhaps somewhere, somehow she did.

* * *

In his Command Post, Great Dolza watched the death of micronian planet with undisguised satisfaction. The edict against attacking a micronian planet had been the chief one of the Masters and now he had broken it.

He was truly free and now the time had come for the Zentraedi to be commanders of their own destiny, with him at the helm.

Once the bombardment was done and Zor's Fortress along with the contaminated Zentraedi were finished, that is.

But he didn't anticipate any problems, undoubtedly the micronians would be so devastated by the loss of the rest of their race they would be unable to put up an effective attack.

As for the contaminated Zentraedi…_Kara Brek _demanded that they accept what was coming to them.

"Your Excellency!" A tech's call broke his musings.

"What?" He rumbled glaring down from his command post at the Zentraedi in question, who should know better than to interrupt the Greatest of them when he was in contemplation.

"We're sensing an energy build up from the planet."

Dolza furrowed his brow. "What? That's impossible, you must be picking up residual energy from our bombardment."

"No, Your Excellency, I don't think so."

"You don't **think** so," Dolza repeated threateningly, that was not the sort of answer he expected.

But before the tech could respond the comm. screen lit up with a light that was so bright that it flooded the entire room, blinding Dolza.

Throwing his arms up to shield his eyes he managed to bite out. "What the Devil is going on-?!"

* * *

"Sir! There's a **huge** energy outpouring from the earth…a…a beam, it's cutting through the armada! I count a thousand, no fifteen hundred ships gone…two thousand…three…"

Vanessa voice seemed far away to Claudia, who had been unable to tear her eyes from the horrible sight, the sight that signalled the death of her brother.

"A beam?" the Captain repeated, rushing forward with Exedore to get a better look from the view port.

"From the Northern Hemisphere…from –" Vanessa continued.

"The Grand Cannon!" Lisa shouted.

It was so, from the top of the globe of Earth a beam was slicing through the Zentraedi armada, obliterating ship after ship as if they were nothing.

"Ten thousand, fifteen thousand!" Vanessa updated.

"I don't believe it," the Captain shook his head. "It works…"

Exedore looked just as stunned. "I've never seen anything like it," he whispered, awed. "Not in all my nos…"

It didn't change the fact that Vince was dead, but Claudia felt hope creeping back as the beam began to move, destroying more and more ships, allowing more and more of Earth to be seen.

At that moment Lisa's console indicated an incoming transmission, Lisa hit the button almost absentmindedly.

"Hayes."

"Captain Gloval!" It was Lang's voice. "I haff been given an most impressive idea from von Lt. Hunter."

"Idea?" The Captain raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, sir. A weapon that the Grand Fleet vill haff never encountered before." Lang continued, his accent thicker than ever as he spoke excitedly. "Lynn Minmei's song!"

"What?" Just about everyone on the Bridge gasped, their attention dragged away from the sight of the Grand Cannon's beam.

"Yes! It was Minmei's song that first brought the Zentraedi defectors to us. If we play it to the Armada they von't know what to make of it. Their shock vill allow us the time we need to destroy ze main flagships and Dolza's Command Post."

It sounded completely preposterous to Claudia, but the Captain turned to Exedore and seemed to ask a silent question.

"Yes," the small alien murmured after a moment. "Yes…brilliant…"

That was all the Captain needed, striding over to Lisa's station to ensure that Lang heard him loud and clear he gave him permission to proceed as quickly as possible.

* * *

"Rick!" Roy shouted as Rick finally ran onto deck. "What the Hell happened to you?"

"I…I had to say goodbye to Minmei," Rick replied as his Big Brother ran over and grabbed his arm.

For a second it looked like Roy as going to give him a whack upside the head, and with good reason, Rick thought, under normal circumstances the Veritech squadrons would have all ready taken off to face the enemy.

But Roy changed his mind looking over his shoulder. "What's going up there on the Bridge? We haven't got the order to take off yet."

"That's because they're putting together a strategy to fight the aliens," Rick said breathless.

"Huh?" Roy looked at him confused.

"I…er…kinda came up with it," Rick told him and proceeded to explain it.

Really though the credit would have to go to Lisa…as he had stood there holding Minmei, thinking of how hopeless the situation was he remembered what Lisa had said before the first interruption of the meeting.

"_A culture-shock-"_

That was exactly what Minmei's song was to the Zentraedi, more than any image from human society, or any speech that they could make.

"Damn, Little Brother," Roy said, patting him on the back. "When did you become such a strategist?"

Rick was about to bring up Lisa's part, when suddenly he noticed what was going on through the observation window. "What's that?"

Roy turned and for a moment the two stared at the unbelievable sight of alien ship after alien ship being vaporised.

"The Grand Cannon," Rick heard his Big Brother say.

"The what?"

"Shit, I can't believe that thing works…" Roy continued, shaking his head. "Lang thought the thing would explode first try."

"You mean…there's survivors on Earth?" Rick gasped, barely able to believe it. "Even after all that?"

"There must be, unless that thing's on auto…and I don't think it is…"

_There __**is**__ hope,_ Rick thought, _there really is._

_

* * *

  
_

Exedore appeared on a secondary comm. screen in Breetai's flagship.

"M'lord, the micronians have come up with a further counter-attack measure," his advisor spoke in an excited manner.

"I see it all ready," Breetai grumbled, watching the beam from the micronian planet continue its path of destruction. Breetai couldn't fathom how many Zentraedi ships had been destroyed, more than the race had ever lost, even after nos of war against the Invid and others.

"Uh, we have nothing to do with that m'lord," Exedore's words brought Breetai's attention back to him. "No, this has to do with the micronian culture, using it to shock those in the Grand Fleet."

"Using it?" Breetai narrowed his eye. "How do you mean?"

"Miss Minmei, the micronian who started the defection in our fleet will sing over the high range radio. Her song will be heard throughout the entire battle field. I believe our fellows won't know what to make of it."

Thinking back to just a quarter lon before, when he had heard Minmei's singing Breetai had to agree with the assessment. It would provide them with a slight edge, perhaps what they needed to triumph against all the odds.

"A brilliant scheme, Exedore," he finally spoke.

"Well, m'lord, it wasn't my doing, one of the micronians came up with it."

"Hmmm," Breetai shifted his gaze to the micronian standing next to Exedore, a male he assumed was the Captain of the fortress.

"You come from a very resourceful race," he spoke in the micronian language, the words strange on his tongue.

The micronian in the white cap inclined his head briefly. "I thank you. Your race too has shown its fair share of resourcefulness."

Breetai smiled wryly, there had been Exedore's ideas of course, but also…Khyron's.

Khyron's desertion really wasn't a surprise, but it rankled that a Zentraedi would run like that.

"Now, m'lord, we need to inform the rest of the fleet, to give them a warning, otherwise they too will be shocked and unable to fight." Exedore told him.

For a moment, Breetai was taken aback by Exedore giving **him** orders…but then he realised that wasn't his advisor's intention.

All the same, he gave Exedore a brief salute. "As you wish."

* * *

Sparks and explosions were falling and sounding all around him, beneath his feet the Earth shook.

Tech Samoko's face was pale, but he determinedly concentrated on his readings. "Eight hundred thousand ships have been destroyed, Admiral!"

Donald Hayes closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. _Eight hundred thousand out of four point eight million. A fine attempt, but that's all it is._

He knew to that there would be no possibility of a second firing, even if they had enough time for the Earth to rotate so as to allow the Cannon to bear on a new sector of alien ships. The base was breaking apart, energy readings were off the scale.

"Sir, I'm picking up a signal on the wide range," Samoko's voice broke into his thoughts. "Sir, it's the SDF-1!"

Donald blinked and shook his head, wondering if he was hallucinating. "What?"

"The SDF-1, sir, its still out there, the signature shows it moving under its own power."

_Lisa,_ Donald thought, his heart lifting even as from far off a shattering explosion shook the room.

* * *

As the beam of the Grand Cannon faded away, Lisa's voice came over the PA in the _Prometheus_.

"Attention all squadrons, attention all squadrons, prepare to attack, repeat prepare to attack." At those words, the pilots turned from the observation window and rushed for their Veritechs.

Roy patted Rick on the shoulder, knowing that in all likelihood they would never see each other again. "Good luck, Little Brother."

Rick swallowed hard and looked as if he was going to break down, but instead he straightened his shoulders. "Good luck, Big Brother."

Roy grinned, more proud of Rick than he'd ever been. "We'll have a beer when this is all over, huh?" He called over his shoulder as headed for Skull One.

"I hate beer," Rick yelled back as he headed for his own Veritech.

* * *

Minmei stood nervously before the mirror in the small room off the main observation window on the SDF-1, located just below the Bridge. She had dressed in her signature costume, her green polka dot dress and was preparing for the most important performance of her life.

She had still thought Rick was crazy as he'd explained to Dr. Lang his plan. But after he had run off, Dr. Lang had explained it to her again and she realised what Rick had been getting at.

"I hope this works…**please** let this work," she whispered to herself. The firing of the Grand Cannon from Earth had given her some hope for her parents.

Out in front of the observation window her band was setting up, ready to play the song she chose.

The most important choice she ever had to make. This song wasn't just for entertainment this time, the one she picked had to shock the enemy Zentraedi enough to give the Veritech pilots, including Rick and the allied Zentraedi and the SDF-1 itself time to attack the huge meteorite shaped ship just visible that was apparently the Command Post of the enemy.

Kyle had found her again and had at first objected to the entire plan (Minmei had chosen not to mention Rick's part).

"Stick a civilian in front of an observation window?!" Kyle had demanded. "Whaddya think the aliens are gonna aim at!"

When Minmei had told him she'd all ready agreed, he had turned to look at her as if she were nuts.

"Minmei, what good will it do?" He'd demanded.

"Maybe none," she had replied, looking at him stubbornly. "But maybe everything, I **have** to do it, Kyle."

Finally he agreed and when Dr. Lang at Exedore's suggestion asked them if they would kiss during the song to add to the shock, well…Kyle had readily agreed to that!

"Two minutes, Minmei!" The stage manager stuck her head through the door. "The Bridge is just finishing up giving instructions."

"OK," she called back and managed a smile, but it disappeared as soon as the stage manager left.

She decided to comb her hair again, hoping it would calm her.

Just as she was about to run the comb through her hair there was a knock at the door.

"Ahem…Miss. Minmei?"

She turned to see the three Zentraedi ex-spies in the doorway, all of them were blushing.

She gave them a little smile. "Hi, come in."

The three exchanged looks as if they couldn't believe their luck and then almost tripped over each other coming into the room.

"Miss. Minmei," the purple haired one, Konda began. "We just wanted to wish you the best of luck."

"Yeah," Rico nodded. "We know what it's like going into battle."

"We used to do it all the time," Bron added.

Their words touched her deeply. _Just think,_ she thought, _that a few months ago those three were fighting and killing with no thought of anything else. If they can change-!_

"Thank you," she said, taking each of their hands in turn, which made the blush even harder. "That means so much."

"Minmei," Kyle appeared in the doorway.

"Coming," she called, she looked back at the Zentraedi. "When this is over, I'll give you my autograph," she promised them with a wink.

"Really?!" They asked in unison.

"Really," she nodded.

And with that she hurried to join Kyle.

* * *

"OK, boys, this is it," Roy opened the tac net having confirmed that all the Veritechs were up. "The big one. The Brass has asked for total radio silence so Minmei's song can have full impact, so no unnecessary communications."

There was a chorus of 'Rogers', even Gibson didn't object.

"So in the thirty seconds we've got left here, I just want to wish every one of you good luck. Remember the SDF-1 is counting on us, anybody who's still alive down there on Earth is counting on us. So let's give it everything we've got."

No sooner had he finished then Lisa spoke. "All Veritechs, maintain radio silence and follow the Zentraedi's lead, when they open fire, commence the attack."

Roy saluted at the comm. screen and saw Lisa nod in response.

He wished though, for just a glimpse of Claudia before he went out there.

* * *

Dolza was fuming, he couldn't believe the sheer gall of the micronians, they had to realise they were vastly out numbered yet there they were attempting to win.

_A foolish race,_ he decided, but had to acknowledge they had made quite an impact on the fleet. In fact, for the first time in his many nos, Dolza felt what could almost be called fear as the techs relayed the loss of nearly 20% of the Grand Fleet. It was unbelievable.

He prepared to call for a second bombardment, but suddenly one of the techs called.

"Your Excellency! Sensors indicate movement from the 1st Imperial Fleet!"

"What?" This was completely unexpected, with his appearance the Imperial Fleet should make no move until he ordered it.

"They've surrounded Zor's Fortress, but…they're making no move to destroy it, in fact…it looks like…they're travelling **with** it!"

"Put it up on screen!" Dolza ordered, not able to believe it.

The techs hurried to comply, and it was as one of them said, Breetai's million ship fleet was moving with Zor's Fortress…it was clear that they were working together.

"So, Breetai once the loyalest of all my Commanders has turned against me," Dolza grumbled, folding his arms and raising his chin. "No matter, we will destroy the planet later, **after** we have dealt with the micronians and the contaminated. Call all troops to battle stations! Call all ships to bring fire on the 1st Imperial Fleet!"

The techs hurried to relay the orders, and soon all four million remaining ships of the Grand Fleet were facing the enemy.

"Attack now!"

* * *

The darkness was confusing and images spun around crazily, refusing to stay put and let themselves be revealed.

_Wh-what?_ Blinking her eyes and coughing, she tried to understand where she was. It was dark and dusty and horribly quiet.

She tried to remember what had happened…an earthquake, perhaps? _In the middle of Mississippi? _She shook her head, that wasn't right.

_Vince_, she recalled, she had been on her way to find Vince…_the news broadcast…Alaska…_

Her eyes began to adjust to the dark and she realised she was surrounded by cars, some of which had shifted. The walls and floors had cracks running through them and every so often there would be the sound of shifting concrete and another cascade of dust would fill the air.

Jean attempted to get to her feet, but immediately fell, tripping on the broken heel of her shoe.

She kicked both of them off her feet and tried again. The world spun around her for a moment, but then steaded itself.

She recalled more of what had happened, she had been hurrying to her car, hurrying to go to the base at Meridian and find Vince to ask him if he knew what was going on.

And suddenly it had seemed as if the world had been coming apart at the seams.

A horrible heat had filled the air, making it impossible to breathe and the ground beneath her had begun to shake and pieces of concrete had begun to rain down.

Jean had attempted to run, to get to one of the emergency exits before the whole place collapsed, but the heel of one her shoes had become caught in a crack that had appeared and had sent her tumbling the ground.

After that…

Well, she couldn't recall. _I must have been hit on the head,_ Jean decided, reaching up to feel for any bumps. _I've probably got a concussion._

If she did though, it fortunately seemed to be a mild one.

_First priority,_ she told herself, _get out of here, the whole parking station could come down._

She wasn't sure where her car keys and handbag had disappeared to, but decided it wasn't a good idea to drive anyway. Looking around she spotted the dull emergency exit light and hurried towards it, ignoring the pain of stepping on small chunks of concrete.

As she climbed the stairs, Jean remembered her mobile and pulled it from a pocket. She had just started to dial Vince's number when she realised that the phone wasn't picking up any signal.

"What? It's always worked down here before," Jean murmured to herself, confused.

But as she emerged from the emergency exit, the phone dropped from a hand.

Onto the dusty ground.

Jean couldn't believe her eyes and she closed them hard. _Maybe I hit my head harder than I thought_, she almost prayed that was so…

But when she opened them again what she saw was still the same.

Where once there had been a parking station, a hospital and entire **city** there was nothing…

Nothing…

Except for craters, a few smouldering ruins…

It was…it was…

_Total destruction._

Jean felt her legs give out from under her and she sunk to the ground.

The entire world was gone! It was like something out of a science fiction novel.

It **was **something out of science fiction novel, Vince loved those novels, he always read them and Jean could well remember the title of the one he was currently reading.

'_Last Man Standing'_.

When she had first seen it, she had thought it was a tacky title, but now it made her shiver.

She grabbed her phone up from where it had fallen and checked it again: No signal.

_There's no-one here…I-I'm the only one._


	43. Chapter 43

"_Faith makes things possible, not easy."_ Quote by Anonymous

* * *

Minnmei tapped out the song's beat as she waited for the band to begin the opening notes of the song.

It was a new one, one she had been working on for some time now. Vance, Kyle and her band had all objected at first, considering the fact that they'd hardly practiced it and certainly not live.

But she had insisted it was the right one, the one that needed to be sung right now…

With a brief look over her shoulder she saw the Veritechs a number installed with a FAST Pack heading towards the mass of alien vessels.

As she turned back she saw the stage manager counting down on her fingers. "Five, four, three –"

The spot light shone down, her band began to play and she raised the microphone to her lips.

"_Life is only what we choose to make it,_

_Let's just take it…_

_Let's be free…"_

* * *

That was the signal, pushing down the strangling fear that threatened to overtake him, Roy opened the throttles and was thrown back against the seat as Skull One took off in a burst of speed.

_Damn these things are fast…_

Behind him the rest of the squadrons followed and they surged ahead of the SDF-1 and the friendly Zentraedi, the first wave of attack…

* * *

"_We can find the glory we all dream of,_

_And with our love,_

_We can win…"_

Minmei's song indeed proved distracting, Seloy paused to listen to it as she prepared to lead the Quadronos into battle.

But when she noticed her squad mates pausing too, she shook off the effect of the song.

"No time for second thoughts," she declared, "it is time for battle! For the glory of the Zentraedi!"

The Quadronos shook themselves from their stupors and returned the cry, then with Seloy leading headed for their mecha.

* * *

Throughout the Grand Fleet, transmission after transmission was interrupted as the SDF-1 combined with the 1st Fleet broadcasted it at the highest frequency. There was no escape from it.

"_Still, we must fight or face defeat._

_We must stand tall and not retreat._

_With our strength we'll fight the might."_

"What **is** that?" Commander Artul head flagship of the Grand Fleet's attack group demanded, distracted from the battle readouts that were poring in.

"I-I don't know, m'lord," a communications officer called, shaking his head and switching through channel after channel. "It's all we're picking up, it seems to be coming from the micronians…"

"_There's no fight we can't fight together, _

_All together,_

_We can win."_

"Ugh," Artul shook his head, trying to concentrate on what was at hand. "Get me visual on the battle," he ordered.

The tech complied but instead of images of what was going on in the star field, there was something else.

"A female!" Artul took a step back unconsciously. His first thought was to call for the transmission to be cut, but then his thoughts scattered.

The female, dressed in a uniform of a type he had never seen began to move, to the same beat as her voice.

"What is this?" Artul demanded, unable to tear his eyes from the screen. "Why are they showing us this –"

At that moment the flagship exploded into a fireball.

* * *

"Our offensive has begun successfully, Captain," Vanessa called from her threat board. "The first flagship had been destroyed!"

Gloval caught Exedore's eye, who nodded to him.

"It is working…it is working," the Zentraedi told him.

* * *

"_Blessed with strong hearts that beat as one, _

_Watch us soar._

_And with love that conquers all_

_We'll win this battle, this last battle."_

Space was filled with beams of laser fire, explosions and mecha going every which way.

In the middle of it all, were Max and Miriya.

Looking over at his wife, who seemed to be at home in a Veritech as much as in a Queadeluun-Rau, Max pointed towards the 'B' level on his console, Miriya caught his eye and nodded, understanding.

Switching into Battloid together the two brought their Gatlings to bear on the enemy. Pods, tri-trusters, Regults, male power armour disappeared into balls of fire.

The blue and red Veritechs cut a swathe of destruction through the enemy Zentraedi.

* * *

The emergency lights had come on in the Base, bathing the place in a sickly red glow.

Donald Hayes got up from his control chair and came over to stand behind Tech Samoko's chair.

"The SDF-1 and a small contingent of alien ships are attacking the four million alien fleet," Samoko looked up, his eye wide with surprise.

Donald leaned forward, it was not that he didn't believe Samoko, but he wanted to make sure…

And it was.

Around them, the base was falling apart, in fact for all Donald knew he and Samoko were the only ones left. There had been no communication since the firing of the Cannon.

"Can we transmit to them," Donald asked, hopefully.

Samoko attempted it, but all that they could get was a song.

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Never mind…" Donald shook his head, listening to the lyrics and managing a small smile. "If that's coming from the SDF-1 and it sounds like it…then…they can win."

* * *

Dolza couldn't believe this, his entire battle strategy was falling apart, that infernal sound that was been broadcast, those infernal images…

Cutting off the images had proven impossible, but one could always look away from those. But he had to keep trying to get through to his soldiers over the radio, which necessitated leaving that sound…

"_We will win... We must win..._

_We will win... We can win...  
_

_We can win..."_

"This is Commander-in-Chief Dolza!" He shouted. "Attack the micronians! Attack the contaminated Zentraedi, show no mercy!"

* * *

It was by far the most intense battle Roy had ever been in, the sheer number of combatants was overwhelming. There was barely any room to manoeuvre and the Veritech squadrons had been spilt up in vicious fighting. It had really become a free-for-all with everybody for themselves.

Over the tac net Minmei still sang, it was quite a tune, but Roy hadn't really heard any of the lyrics since he was concentrating on not losing his life.

He was clear into enemy territory now, not a friendly Zentraedi to be seen here.

Skull One had sustained a few near misses, but fortunately the bulk of Zentraedi pilots simple weren't skilled enough. Obviously the standard Zentraedi military policy was kill them with sheer numbers.

Roy couldn't yet say that it wasn't going to be successful this time.

_Not if we can help it._

* * *

Rick wasn't even sure where he was, he had lost track of the rest of the Vermillion and all the other squadrons too, but it fought on determined, Minmei's song urging him on.

But there was a lull in the song now, and distracted Rick looked down on his comm. screen.

A second spotlight appeared on the 'stage' where Minmei sang, in it was Kyle and he walked to Minmei taking her hand.

"Minmei, I-"

Minmei put her other hand on top of his. "I know, Kyle, you have to leave…but remember I'll always be waiting for you."

"I love you," Kyle cupped a hand around her chin and lifted her face to his.

Rick turned away from the broadcast, not wanting to see anymore.

_Goodbye, Minmei,_ he repeated the words he had said to her back on the ship and threw himself back into the battle.

* * *

"What the devil!"

"I can't believe it!"

"What **is** that?!"

"It's a weapon!"

"It's torture!"

Throughout Dolza's fleet, both in the ships and on the comm. screens of mecha, Zentraedi after Zentraedi were distracted from battle by the astounding sight.

A male and a female together…

**Pressing lips.**

How many Zentraedi died staring at that image couldn't be measured, couldn't even be imagined. But slowly, the Grand Fleet was dwindling…almost a million more ships had been lost. What should have been an easy fight was anything but.

No-one could know who would win now.

* * *

Lisa clenched her fists on top of her console. Of all those in the Bridge, she ironically had the least to do with the radio silence that had been ordered. While Claudia directed and co-ordinated the weapons systems and Kim and Sammie assisted and Vanessa relayed the enemy's damage, Lisa watched the battle unfolding.

The SDF-1 with the 1st Imperial Fleet flanking it was making its way slowly but surely through, the giant Command Post of Dolza's beginning to take up the entire view port.

Minmei began to sing again the kiss with Kyle finished.

"_As the battle goes on we feel stronger.  
_

_How much longer  
_

_Must this go on?"_

Lisa had to wonder too. The Imperial Fleet was taking heavy losses and the SDF-1 herself had suffered a few direct hits…millions of enemy ships still stood between them and Dolza.

_We have to do this…we have to._

* * *

In the great labyrinth of Alaska Base, T.R Edwards ran.

The elevators weren't working, and the emergency lights were barely holding up.

The entire place was set to explode any moment and Edwards didn't want to be anywhere near when it did.

He didn't have a clue what had happened to the rest of the Council, or his direct superior, Admiral Hayes, but frankly he didn't care.

_Where the Hell did these idiots put the escape stairs._

Edwards knew they were there because he had scoffed at the idea of them been built.

"_Six miles down? You'd be lucky to get half way up them before the place goes sky high"_ He remembered saying in the mess to snickers.

But he really needed them now.

The halls of the base were empty, there had been a general call to battle stations and like good soldiers they were those here probably remained at them, but Edward's had always been interested in his own self-preservation above everything. And if orders conflicted with that…be damned if he was going to keep them.

Finally he saw the door, the sign 'STAIRS' barely visible in the red glow.

Entering the stairwell, he looked up.

And up.

And up.

Nearly six miles of staircase was before him.

Grinding his teeth and gathering every bit of strength he had, he began the journey up them.

_I'm getting out of this hell-hole, or I'm going to die trying._ He swore.

* * *

"_Each and every day we dream of winning  
_

_and beginning a new life."_

Miriya kept Maximillian in her sights at all times. They may have been separated from their vessel and their fellow pilots, but she would never be separated from him.

Out the corner of her eye she noticed the Quadronos (who could miss them) delivering death to all those who dared to cross paths with them.

But Miriya felt no pain at the sight of them fighting without her. She did however admire the way Seloy led them. She had chosen well.

Past the Quadronos there was another familiar sight, the 'Skull Leader' in battle.

She had to admit to briefly wondering how a rematch between them would go, but she let the thought go as soon as she had it.

It was as that moment, Miriya noticed three tri-thrusters on 'Skull Leader's tail.

They were obviously a cut above the rest and despite his best efforts it looked as if he weren't going to be able to shake them off…

Bringing her Gatling gun to bear she made quick work of them.

It was an odd sensation, she had just saved the life of the one who had refused to be defeated by her. The very one who had wounded her pride and sent her to the SDF-1 in the first place,

The 'Skull Leader' flew close by her Veritech and from the cockpit she saw him giving her the 'thumbs up' a sign of thanks (among other things).

_Enemies no more_, she thought returning the gesture before she and Maximillian flew to a new quadrant to take on the enemy.

* * *

Her feet were bloody, her stockings shredded and her head was throbbing, but Jean continued on.

Everywhere she looked she saw nothing but desolation. Not a single building, not a single tree… She hadn't come across a single person or creature… not even the ever present mosquitoes that had once been the bane of every Mississippian's existence.

She didn't know how far she had walked so far, but the Meridian Base was 11 miles from the centre of the town.

She had to keep going, considering her surroundings there didn't seem to be any point in hoping the base would still be there, but she had to know for sure.

Night had fallen, but the moon was full providing enough light for her to see by.

It was also terribly cold, colder than it had ever been in Mississippi in the years she had lived there. She had a coat, but it was only light one and her teeth were chattering despite her having wrapped her arms around herself for further warmth.

_Oh, Vince, please be out there,_ she wished desperately, hopelessly as she ducked her head against the wind that suddenly whipped up, as cold as ice.

* * *

"_Still, we must fight or face defeat._

_We must stand tall and not retreat"._

From the asteroid field, Khyron watched the battle unfolding, that pesky micronian female interjecting on the footage.

"Hmm, pretty little thing," he murmured to himself.

"What, m'lord?" Grel asked in surprise.

Khyron ignored it, instead he watched Azonia's purple ships flanking Breetai's fight a losing battle with those of the Grand Fleet.

_So, Lady Azonia…your end has come._ He thought, but the great feeling of triumph he expected to have at this news did not flood through him.

Rather there was a strange emptiness, a feeling…of loss.

"Grel, take me to the co-ordinates of Lord Breetai's fleet," he drawled almost to himself. _And Lady Azonia's…_ he added to himself.

"Wh-what, Lord Khyron?"

Whirling to look at his second in command Khyron shouted. "Are you having trouble with your hearing today, Grel?!" He shook a fist in his face. "I said **take** me to the co-ordinates of Breetai's fleet!"

Grel stood with his mouth hanging open, and Khyron was extremely tempted to punch him, but instead satisfied himself by yelling. "**NOW**, Grel!"

That got him moving and soon Khyron's battalion was making its way back towards the battle they had run from some mil before.

* * *

"_With our strength we'll find the might.  
_

_There's no fight we can't fight together,  
_

_All together,  
_

_We can win."_

"Contact with the Command Post of the Fleet in one minute, sir," Vanessa announced from the threat-board.

_One minute,_ Gloval repeated to himself, knowing all to well it wasn't going to be an easy minute.

Despite the distraction Lynn Minmei's song was providing a number of enemy Zentraedi ships were moving to cut them off.

Lisa, Claudia, Sammie and Kim were co-ordinating the firing of the SDF-1's anti-ship cannons as best they could and in the Barrier Control Room the pin-point barrier operators were working better than they ever had. However, laser fire was still hitting home making the ship shudder as if it was ready to come apart at the seams.

"We can make it, Captain," Exedore spoke from beside him. Gloval looked down to see the Zentraedi's black eyes fixed on the sight of Dolza's Command Ship.

"Concentrate the pin-point barriers on the bow!" He ordered to Claudia, who relayed it to the Barrier Control Room operators.

Gloval watched as on the schematic of the SDF-1 on the screen above Claudia's station. The four pin point barrier shields had moved to the very bow of the ship to protect the _Daedalus_ and the _Prometheus_ along with the twin booms of the main gun.

"Maximum power to all engines!" Gloval called and Claudia hurried to comply.

The thrust of the SDF-1 was almost enough to knock Gloval off his feet, but he kept his balance, as did Exedore.

Dolza's Command Post took up the entire view port now, but as the twin booms of the main gun hit the skin of it, it punctured through, giving way…

The _Daedalus _and _Prometheus_ followed suit, the SDF-1 burrowing though heading for its' target.

* * *

"_With strong hearts that beat as one,_

_Watch us soar._

_And we will win this battle, this last battle.."_

Rick was giving the battle everything he had, especially since radar readings showed that the SDF-1 had reached its objective.

_If everything goes right…_

Rick shook the thought away, there was no time for it…

Especially with the small Zentraedi Scout Ship that was heading right for him.

Lucky for him, he still had one salvo of missiles left, and he fired them now.

They hit home, the Scout Ship disappearing in an exploding globe of fire.

Rick barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief, as from the explosion missiles from…somewhere…headed straight for him.

Throwing the 'B' lever and converting to Battloid, Rick brought the armoured arms of the Veritech up to protect the cockpit as best he could, as the missiles hit and exploded throwing him back.

His Veritech shuddered and the instruments inside went haywire, he was thrown about inside like a rag-doll, hitting this and that.

Finally was thrown forward, hard, against the controls, and the sound of Minmei's song faded along with his vision…

"_Rick, I want you to know that I'll be singing for you most of all."_ He heard her voice as she farewelled him, back on the SDF-1, looking so serene in her fur lined red coat.

He had only been able to say her name with a sigh.

Then she had lifted her face to his, and for the first time in more than a year and half, Rick had kissed her.

"_I love you."_ He had said when they finally ended the kiss.

"_I love you, too." _She had replied.

_Too little…too late_, Rick thought, as it all faded away.

* * *

"_We will win... We must win._

_We will win…We must win._

_We will win…We can win!"_

Things had been going well during the battle for Azonia. Losses to the female part of the fleet had been relatively light all things to considered.

But now, things were beginning to turn, as they pulled away to as Zor's Fortress began burrowing through Dolza's Command Post.

A fleet of enemy Zentraedi broke between her and Lord Breetai's ships, and brought their cannons to bear.

"Yiata! Status report!" She shouted as the ship shudder from direct hits.

"We've lost First Officer Relos from the rear!" Yiata shouted, grabbing a hold of the side of the command bubble. "Second Officer Clarine reports that her entire squadron has been wiped out!"

"Damnit!" Azonia cursed as the ship shook hard enough to knock the techs from their chairs below. "Show no mercy! Fire back!"

The techs got back to their consoles, but it was clear that all the fire power in the universe wasn't going to save them.

Azonia turned toward Yiata, who had hit the command bubble, smashing through part of it. She now nursed a bleeding hand.

"Yiata," Azonia began, the female looked up. "It has been a great honour –"

"Lady Azonia, incoming transmission!" A tech yelled from below.

"Not now!" She snapped, one eye on the comm. screen, which was taken up by a Destroyer, which was preparing to fire –

And suddenly it disappeared in an explosion.

"What?" Azonia blinked, stunned. "Who fired those sho-?"

A second comm. screen appeared on the command bubble.

"Lady Azonia."

"**KHYRON**?!" Azonia spluttered, her eyes wide as his face appeared.

"The Botoru Battalion extends its support," Khyron told her. "Do you accept?"

"You – you…offer your **support**?" Azonia couldn't believe what she was hearing. After all their battles over the comm. net, after all the insults and anger. _He is offering __**help**__?! And what is he even doing here! He said he wouldn't fight –_

"My lady, another Destroyer is off to our port side!" A tech called.

"Yes!" Azonia gasped looking up at Khyron. "Yes, I accept your support!"

At her words Khyron **saluted** her and broke the connection, and Botoru Battalion swooped in, helping fight off the enemy.

_Why has he done this?_ Azonia wondered, feeling off balance even though the direct hits upon her ship had stopped.

But she had no time to think about it…the battle was still going on.

* * *

Flames and burst of sparks were falling everywhere.

Donald had ordered Tech Samoko to escape, but the man, knowing that such an attempt would be useless had decided to stay at his post to his last.

The radio equipment was failing, but still dimly the song the SDF-1 was broadcasting could be heard.

_It may be the end of me…but Lisa…Gloval, they're still out there,_ he thought, sitting back in his command chair. _They will carry on. Goodbye, Lisa, my dear daughter. Goodbye, Gloval, my old friend._

Almost imperceptibly the air changed, it seemed to become charged with energy.

"Admiral Hayes, sir."

He looked up to see Tech Samoko rendering a neat salute. "It has been an honour to serve with you, sir."

Donald responded with a tremulous smile and saluted back.

"And an honour to serve with you…at ease, Samoko."

And then the end came.

* * *

"All Veritechs, withdraw!" Roy called, breaking into the broadcast of Minmei's song. The SDF-1 had reached the Command Ship though, so he decided to go ahead. Especially considering how many squadrons were in what Lang had called the 'Red Zone'. If they didn't get out of there before the SDF-1 did its job, they'd be going to Hell with the enemy Zentraedi.

The ships of the friendly Zentraedi were pulling away as well, although quite a few were blocked by the enemy.

However, the Grand Commander of the Zentraedi was obviously distracted by other things and as Advisor Exedore had predicted, the enemy's tactics were going to pieces. Their mecha squadrons in particular didn't seem to know which way was up anymore.

As Roy hit the throttle, he noted the Sterlings' following the order to evacuate the area along with those Veritech pilots who had survived the onslaught.

But it didn't take long for Roy to realise someone was missing…

_Where the Hell are you, Hunter?_

He was tempted to put a call over the tac net, but Minmei was still singing, and he didn't want to cause a distraction, even if it was his Little Brother who was missing out there.

The only thing he could do was hope that somewhere, out of the 'Red Zone' Rick was alive and well.

* * *

"Your Excellency! The Command Post has been breeched!"

Dolza had been unable to keep his eyes averted from that...that **pressing of lips**...disgusting could not describe it.

There was no way to escape that….thing….she was doing with her voice.

_What manner of weapon __**is **__this?_

"_Now we've reached this last encounter._

_Where are we now?_

_What shall we be now? _

_How could we have come so far to give up?_

_We won't give up._

_We can win…."_

The shout of the tech brought him out of it and to his amazement, the warning was true…

From a breech in the hull of the Command Post appeared…Zor's Fortress!

"What the Devil! They'll destroy us both!"

But the micronians in the fortress seemed hell-bent on their own destruction as well as his, and Dolza, the greatest of the Zentraedi felt the icy cold fingers of fear clutch in his chest.

"**STOP**!" He cried out.

* * *

"**FIRE**!" Gloval shouted.

"_Still we must fight or face defeat_

_We must stand tall and not retreat._

_With our strength we'll find the might.  
_

_There's no fight we can't fight together, _

_All together,  
_

_We can win!"_

Minmei's song reached its crescendo as all at once the SDF-1 fired all but the main gun.

The ships docked within the cavernous Command Post exploded in balls of fire, the skin of the Command Post began to buckle as salvo, after salvo hit.

"Activate the Full Ship Barrier!" Gloval yelled, watching the screen above Claudia's station at the schematic as the sphere that represented the barrier encompassed the ship.

Protected now, the explosions bounced harmlessly off the barrier, wrecking more havoc on the Command Post.

"Barrier holding," Vanessa reported from the threat board. "The atmosphere in the Command Post is overheating… explosion is imminent!"

"All units, brace for explosion wave!" Lisa warned over the ship-wide PA. Which reminded Gloval of the citizens, all –save Minmei, her band, Lynn Kyle, the stage manager and camera men – were hopefully safely inside the shelters deep with in the ship, protected from the worst of the raging battle.

There was a great shudder, as if the entire universe was shaking, and suddenly the entire bridge was eclipsed in a blinding light as the Command Post, the centre of the Zentraedi war machine exploded into oblivion.

"_We will win!"_


	44. Chapter 44

"_I know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future."_ Anonymous Quote

* * *

Rick Hunter's Veritech floated lazily in space among the debris of countless Zentraedi mecha and warships, broken and battered.

All was quiet now, as if the explosion that had destroyed the Command Post had deafened the entire universe.

Every so often the atmosphere around Earth would light up as a Zentraedi ship, rendered inoperable by the explosion wave was drawn in by gravity.

Where once the Command Post had stood there was a small ball of light. It faded away slowly, revealing the SDF-1, badly scarred and burned, but intact.

However, it was no longer capable of space flight, as the gravity of Earth overcame her, she began a controlled descent towards the planet she had once been banished from.

* * *

"Is…is that it?" Minmei spoke in a small voice. "Is it over?"

The band had stopped playing and the silence was deafening.

The Earth now filled the view in the observation window replacing the view of inside the Command Post that had been there seconds before.

Minmei swallowed hard at the sight of the planet, like everyone she had seen pictures of Earth from space, but where once the continents had been coloured green, they were now a sickly brown.

Suddenly she felt someone's hand on her shoulder.

"It's over." Kyle said, his voice shaky.

"Kyle, do you think- do you think-" She couldn't say it.

"I'm sorry, Minmei."

Her eyes filled with tears, and they fell as she saw Japan, as brown and as dead as the rest of the planet seemed to be.

* * *

"Skull Leader, this is SDF-1."

Roy shook his head to clear the fog that had set in at the sight of the Command Post's destruction.

"SDF-1, this is Skull Leader."

Lisa appeared on his screen, her hair a mess and her eyes glassy.

"Commander Fokker, we're heading in for an emergency landing on Earth, recall all Veritechs."

"Roger, ma'am."

Opening the tac net, Roy called the survivors of the last battle to fall into formation for a return to SDF-1.

He watched the dots, a distressingly small number of them fall into formation behind him.

But not one of those dots was Rick.

_Damn, Little Brother, where are you?_

"SDF-1 this is Skull Leader, we're heading for _Prometheus_, I request permission to disengage."

On screen, Lisa blinked, surprised. "Disengage? What? Why?"

"Vermillion Leader is missing, I want to search for him."

Lisa's all ready pale face seemed to go even whiter. "What?" She gasped.

"His Veritech may still be intact," Roy told her, and then realised something, unlikely as it was. "In fact there's possibly more pilots out there with Veritechs that aren't manoeuvrable."

Captain Gloval appeared over Lisa's shoulder.

"Commander Fokker…"

Roy felt a wave of deja vu, recalling how almost a year and a half ago in the wake of the SDF-1's misfold to Pluto he had asked to be allowed to do basically the same thing and had been denied.

"Take two Veritechs and search for possible survivors of the battle," Gloval said this time. "Human or Zentraedi."

Roy straightened in his seat, feeling re-energised. He gave Gloval a sharp salute. "Aye, aye, sir!" He considered the dots on his screen. "Lt. Sterling, Ensign Parina, break off formation and follow me, we'll be making a sweep of the battlefield for survivors. Gibson, you have control of the squadrons."

Gibson's haggard face appeared on the screen. "Roger," he spoke with none of his usual abrasiveness.

With that he broke off from his place at the head of the formation, and out the corner of his eye saw Sterling's blue and Parina's red Veritechs break off to join him.

"You think Rick's out there, Commander?" Max's face appeared on the screen now.

"You know Rick, Sterling, his basically indestructible. If **we** got through it, he must have."

Sterling gave a wry smile. "He has that reputation."

"Keep in mind though, we're looking for any other survivors, too," Roy was quick to add.

Sterling nodded and saluted, in the other comm. screen, Parina followed suit.

Roy opened the tac net to a general channel and put out a call. "Attention, this is Skull Leader of the SDF-1, we've been ordered to pick up any survivors, enemy or not, please respond."

As Parina translated for any Zentraedi out there, Roy kept an eye out for Rick's distinctive white and red Veritech.

_Come on, Rick, show up out there._

* * *

It was dark and quiet.

And it seemed as if a long time had passed.

Vince Grant opened his eyes, only to be confronted by a wall of blackness.

_Oww, what the-?_

The last thing he remembered was coming down here to the store room to get a few tools. Today had been the day, the scientists had uncovered their project, the replacement for the Veritech fighter.

It was a prototype, and of course it had a few kinks in it…ones that Vince thought he'd be able to fix.

So down to the store he had gone.

Fumbling around in his pockets he pulled out his mobile phone, which was equipped with a torch.

Fiddling with the buttons he finally got the torch working.

He was momentarily blinded by the brightness of it, but his eyes adjusted and widened in surprise.

The store was in complete disarray.

Where once the shelves were stacked neatly with all manner of military necessities and tools, they were bare, their contents scattered all over the floor, as if there had been an earthquake.

_In Mississippi?_ Vince shook his head.

Then a thought struck him. _An attack?_

That was a lot more likely…

Vince swallowed hard, despite his years as a member of the RDF, he was too young to have actually seen any combat and he certainly didn't relish going back above ground to see what destruction may have been wrought. And he certainly hated to think that yet another war had broken out.

But he was a soldier and he had his duty.

He had quite a bit of trouble getting the door to the store open, the door frame around it had buckled, all but trapping it shut.

But Vince was a strong man, and setting his shoulder he ran at it and smashed it open.

The hallway outside was eerily quiet, the emergency lighting bathing the place in a red glow.

"Hello?" Vince called, swivelling his torch about. The place seemed way too quiet for comfort. "This is Sergeant Grant, anyone here?"

There was no answer.

The attack really must have occurred without warning, since Vince assumed if there had been one a lot more people would have taken cover down here.

Finding the stairs that went back up to the surface, Vince was surprised at the cool wind that seemed to be blowing down.

_When has Mississippi ever been this cold?_ He thought confused, but hurried up them.

Into the cold night air.

"What?!" He gasped out loud.

His mouth dropped open.

Where once there had been a hanger, there was nothing…

It was as if the entire base had disappeared into thin air.

_It can't be…what weapon could have done this?_

As far as Vince knew, there **was** none that could do this.

At least none on Earth.

* * *

Lisa swallowed, her throat dry, as she tried to hold back her tears.

The SDF-1 entered the atmosphere of Earth, now barren and dead.

She didn't ask, but she didn't need to.

Alaska Base was gone.

Alaska itself came into view, but where it had once been covered in snow and ice, there was only dirt.

Except for one particular point, a circle of black, the aftermath of a great explosion, right where the premiere defence base of Earth had been.

_Father._

Her chest felt tight, as if someone was squeezing her heart.

He was gone, he had to be, no-one could have survived that.

And she would never get the chance to thank him, the Grand Cannon certainly hadn't been able to destroy the Zentraedi Grand Fleet, but it had certainly helped.

And of course, she had never said goodbye…

_He knew, though,_ something told her, _he understood._

She wasn't sure if that was just wishful thinking, but she hoped it wasn't. If it had happened the other way around, if she had died and her father lived, she would have, with her last breath, forgiven and understood him and though she had denied it (**especially** these past few weeks) she and her father were very much alike.

Straightening her shoulders, Lisa lifted her chin, she knew there was something else her father would want for her. To look to the future.

* * *

T.R Edwards lay sprawled on the ground, every muscle in his body burning and aching.

But he had done it, he had made it.

He hadn't got very far from the base though before the explosion and he was quite aware of blood on his face.

Aware of it because it had got all over his arms and hands, but he could not feel it on his face, the entire right side of it was completely numb.

He looked up at the sky, or at least where he assumed the sky to be, but he could barely see anything.

_Blind, I'm blind_.

The thought filled him with fury, his hands curled into fists.

For the last nine years, his life had revolved around gaining access to the higher echelons of the UEG.

But for nearly fifteen years prior to that, his life had been flying.

And Edwards had been the best, at least that's what he believed.

And for most of his distinguished flying career there hadn't been a single person to challenge that.

Except of course –

There was no time for this. The explosion that had sent shrapnel into the right side of his face was perhaps not the last. He had to get as far away from this place as possible, blind or not.

Staggering, his legs screaming in pain he lurched to his feet.

For a few brief moments he was off-balance, the fatigue made worse by lack of visual cues.

But he regained his balance and looking about tried to figure out which way to run.

_I could be the only person on this damn planet…_ He thought.

But there were thousands of secret underground military facilities around, the closest one being in Anchorage, due south.

Being nearly blind made finding due south rather difficult, still Edwards looked up into the sky, hoping that his vision limited though it was would still allow him to find the North Star.

It seemed it would, he started picking up points of light, but soon they were joined by streaks of light, the sky seemed to be full of shooting stars, finding the North Star was impossible.

His dim vision picked up on a particularly slow and bright falling star.

In a few seconds, as the light fell closer and closer to Earth, Edwards realised without a doubt what it was.

The SDF-1, that ship of fools.

_Perhaps not so foolish after all._

The SDF-1 most likely contained the last survivors of the human race.

It also contained some of the people he hated most in the world, but far be it from him to allow personal feelings get in the way of self-preservation.

He started out towards it.

* * *

"_Goodbye, Rick."_

"_Goodbye, Minmei."_

"Ugh," Rick groaned.

He felt as if he'd been put through the wringer or something…

Blinking slowly, he tried to clear his vision and bring everything into focus.

He was in his Veritech…

In space…

_The battle,_ Rick remembered.

He was still in Battloid mode and floating through a minefield of debris.

And he couldn't see the SDF-1 anywhere.

_Oh God, am I the only one left?_

His heart began to hammer, a cold fear sweeping through him.

To be the only human left…

With a shaking hand, he reached out and started flicking through the radio channels.

"This is Vermillion Leader, come in, please." He began calling over the radio waves.

But all that greeted him was static.

_Come on, someone out there, please…_

* * *

"What's our status?" Breetai grumbled to the techs below the bridge.

"We have limited protoculture, m'lord," one of the techs looked up from his console. "But our helm control is uncompromised."

"Hmm," Breetai rubbed his chin, "good."

He observed the comm. screen, showing ship after ship both of his own Imperial Fleet and Dolza's Grand Fleet crashing towards Earth, most of them burning up in the atmosphere of the planet.

"How many do you think will survive?" He spoke and looked to his right, expecting Exedore as ever to be there.

He wasn't of course.

Shaking his head, he directed the question to the techs.

"I can't really say, m'lord, but scanners detect a rather small fraction of the ships are making a controlled descent." One of them spoke up after a few mil.

"Hmmm, can we make contact with the SDF-1?" He asked, not used to the human name for Zor's craft.

The tech made a few inputs. "No, sir, they've entered the atmosphere of the planet and it's blocking our limited radio range."

"All right then…order the remaining ships of my fleet to dock with our ship and begin a transfer of all remaining protoculture."

The tech in question raised his eyebrows. "But, m'lord, that will deplete the rest of our fleet, they'll be useless –"

"We no longer need the rest of our fleet," Breetai said, coolly. "Bring all those aboard onto our vessel."

"Yes, m'lord!" The tech hurried to comply.

* * *

So far the search for survivors had yielded nothing.

Roy was beginning to lose hope.

"This is Skull Leader, any survivors out there please respond," he called over the tac net.

Static was the only response he got.

"Sterling, Parina, any luck at your end?" He asked then.

"Negative, Commander," Sterling's voice replied.

"Sorry, Skull Leader," Parina shook her head.

"Roger, keep looking."

Flying to a new sector, Roy sent out the call again.

And finally…there was a small unintelligible voice through the static.

Narrowing his eyes, he reached out and fiddled with the radio, trying to bring the voice into tune.

"This is Skull Leader, please respond."

Finally…

"This is Vermillion Leader…" There was a burst of static, but it was enough.

"Rick!"

"Roy?!"

"I **knew **you were out there, Little Brother…geeze, I know you don't like beer, but this is going a bit too far."

Rick laughed in response.

"Set off your beacon so I can find you," he ordered, "the radar's complete clogged up here."

"Right, just a sec…"

There was still a lot of static, but on Roy's screen a light began to blink.

"Right, got a fix on you, I'm on my way," Roy assured him, then called. "Sterling, Parina, I found him, lazing about as usual."

Max appeared on the comm. screen, a smile on his face. "Thank God, Miriya thinks she might have located some Zentraedi close by, we're going in to investigate."

"Roger, keep me posted."

Through the debris he spotted the decrepit wreck that was Rick's Veritech.

"I guess that's number four," Roy announced with a shake of his head.

"Hey, shut up."

Roy laughed coming up next to the Veritech.

Once again, deja vu reared its head, way back at the beginning, when Rick had first unwittingly got into a Veritech he had messed it up so badly it could no longer fly. Fortunately, each Veritech had a cockpit release system and each had the capability of attaching a released cockpit.

So, that was what Roy had to do back on Macross Island.

And what he had to do now.

If Rick could change into Guardian at least.

"I dunno, Roy…it looks pretty bad," Rick announced, his face finally appearing on the comm. screen.

"They're pretty durable."

"Yeah, but is the life support?" Rick asked.

"Hmm…good point…I better push you in then."

"Should I brace myself?"

"Watch it, Little Brother."

* * *

Azonia let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding, and ran her fingers through her purple hair.

"Yiata, what's our status?"

Yiata gave a small jump, her thoughts having obviously been elsewhere. "Uh…" she looked down and finding her console broken, directed the question at the techs down below.

"Our protoculture is all but depleted, my lady," a tech said getting to her feet. "We will probably need to make a controlled descent onto the planet if we're to survive."

Azonia narrowed her eyes as she looked at the micronian planet on her comm. screen. She certainly did relish the thought of having to live amongst the micronians. She may have agreed to fight with Breetai, but that had been for her own survival, she had seen the kiss exchanged by the two micronians and it had disgusted her, she wanted no part of their 'culture'.

"My Lady, we're receiving a communication from Lord Khyron."

Azonia's heart jumped, she had forgotten Khyron.

"Patch him through," she said cautiously.

"Lady Azonia," Khyron, looking rather haggard appeared on the comm. screen, rendering a salute. "We were successful, were we not?"

She was taken aback. _**Two**__ salutes in less then a hundred mil, incredible._ She really had to wonder what had come over him.

"We have indeed, Lord Khyron, it was an honour serving with you."

"Past tense, my Lady?" Khyron raised an eyebrow.

Azonia was taken aback. "Well…uh…of course…"

"Our Protoculture has been depleted," Khyron informed her, rubbing his chin. "I image yours has as well."

Azonia nodded.

"It won't be long until the life support systems give out…are you planning on a quiet warrior death? Or will you take your chances on the planet."

"Hmmm…" Azonia wasn't sure how to answer.

Khyron's answer surprised her. "I, personally, am planning a controlled descent."

"To live with the micronians?" Azonia asked, stunned.

Khyron laughed snidely. "Certainly **not**, but after the Grand Fleet Bombardment, how many of those puny insects do you think are left down there? It could as easily become another Zentraedi stronghold, wouldn't you agree?"

She had not thought of it, but the idea took hold, it was a most promising one.

Slowly she smiled. "I would, Lord Khyron."

* * *

"Contact with the surface in two minutes," Claudia announced as the sky began to lighten.

"Blocks A through Q are unstable, but they're hold," Kim called from her station.

"I've contacted the shelters, Captain," Sammie looked over her shoulder. "There's been some damage, a number of injuries but no causalities."

Captain Gloval's shoulders drooped in relief.

_For once, the civilians got through this all right._

"Are all the Veritechs back on board?" He spoke up.

"Except for Commander Fokker, Lt. Sterling and Ensign Parina," Lisa spoke from her console. "But the electromagnetic activity in the atmosphere is blocking all radio communication, I can't contact them."

"Hmm…I'm sure they'll be fine," Gloval spoke reassuringly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Advisor Exedore stared at the brown, crater marked land that they were descending towards.

"So, this is your planet…now." He spoke solemnly.

* * *

Miriya couldn't remember ever been so alert, even after nos of combat. She had certainly never imagined that she would find herself caught up in something so…un-Zentraedi like.

A search for survivors of a battle.

She had heard the relief in Maximillian's and the Skull Leader's voices as they spoke of Lt. Hunter. She couldn't imagine any Zentraedi speaking of another in that way.

She repeated the call over the tac net for any survivors to respond, she had thought she'd found some a few mil ago, but it was not to be so.

She was about ready to give up, when there was a crackle over the radio that sounded different.

She sat up straighter in her seat and called over the radio in Zentraedi. "This is Miriya Parina, please respond if you read this."

She fiddled with the control knob of the radio, trying to pick up on the signal.

She wasn't able to get it absolutely clear, but it was enough to recognise the voice that all but whispered in response.

"M-Miriya?"

Her eyes widened, could it possibly be? "Seloy?"

"It **is** you," Seloy replied, weakly.

"Seloy, where are you? I'll come and bring you in," Miriya tried to source the transmission, but it proved impossible.

"Bring me in? What are you talking about?"

"That's why I'm searching out here."

"A micronian custom, I suppose?" Miriya could imagine Seloy shaking her head. "You have indeed changed."

Miriya supposed it was true. "Maybe so, but I think I have for the better. Are you going to tell me your co-ordinates?"

"My mecha has been disabled, I am meant to die a warrior death." Seloy told her what she all ready knew, but Miriya thought she heard a note of uncertainty in her old comrade's voice.

"Perhaps under the old ideas of the Zentraedi," she said, surprised at how much she wanted Seloy to give her the co-ordinates of her location. "But the High Command is gone now. We are now free to make our own decisions…if you wish to die a warrior death I won't stop you, but if you are doing so only for old ideals…" She trailed off.

Seloy made a sound that was almost a laugh. "You have won me over, First Officer, these are my co-ordinates."

A dot appeared on Miriya's radar screen.

"I'm coming to get you right now, Seloy."

At that moment, Maximillian appeared. "What's going on, Miriya? Have you found someone?"

She nodded at the comm. screen. "I have, someone I would…in your terms call a friend."

Maximillian looked surprised, Miriya had to admit to feeling a little surprised herself. A 'friend'.

"Do you need help?"

"No, I shall collect her myself, you should keep looking."

Maximillian nodded. "Not sure if there's any chance, but never say never, huh?"

She smiled, Maximillian had quite a way with words.

"Indeed, Maximillian."

* * *

The Captain seemed unable to look out the bridge view port for any length of time. Claudia didn't blame him, it wasn't a sight she wanted to look at either.

_Vince…my poor brother…_

She at least had Roy, thank God he had got through this.

"What's our projected landing site?" The Captain's voice surprised her.

Quickly she made some inputs. "Sixty-three degrees, twenty one minutes north and one hundred and thirty-seven degrees and fifty minutes west."

"Yukon, hmm…" the Captain smoothed down his moustache. "Good a place as any I suppose. Prepare the ship for landing."

At the Captain's order Claudia got busy, especially since a smooth landing (or as close to smooth as one could get with the SDF-1's engines failing like they were…) depended almost entirely on her.

"Captain," Vanessa called from the threat board. "I'm detecting large numbers of Zentraedi vessels falling to Earth."

Advisor Exedore nodded. "It's to be expected."

"Do you think they'll be many survivors?"

The Zentraedi tapped his lips thoughtfully. "It's hard to say, certainly Zentraedi are built more solidly then you micronians."

"Exactly how many Zentraedi are there?" The Captain asked.

"Well…it's difficult to say, no doubt the Grand Fleet lost some number of them even before this battle. At last count there was some one billion."

Claudia, Lisa and the Bridge Bunnies gasped.

"A billion!" Sammie cried. "What if they try to take us over?"

"We could be the only survivors!" Kim added. "They'll completely out number us."

Advisor Exedore held his hands up for calm. "I doubt there is anywhere **near **that number any longer, a large number of the Grand Fleet would have been caught up in the explosion of the Command Post. Those who survive…well the Zentraedi are, thought we would wish to deny it, primarily followers. They will probably swear allegiance to Lord Breetai and we'll have little trouble."

It sounded a bit too good to be true to Claudia, but at that point it was only fifteen seconds until touch down, which she immediately passed on to the Captain.

"Thank you, Claudia," he gave her a nod, then turned to Lisa.

Lisa was a step ahead of him and had all ready opened the ship-wide PA. "All sectors prepare for landing, please secure all mecha and any other potentially hazardous items. Please, secure all civilians."

"Landing in ten, nine, eight," Claudia began the countdown.

The SDF-1 headed straight for a huge crater, whether it was the remanence of an old lake or where a city once stood, Claudia couldn't say, but sensors indicated the ground was firm enough for landing, but soft enough so the whole ship wouldn't break apart from the fore.

"Cutting engine power, activating reverse thrusters," she announced as she entered the inputs. "Three, two, one-"

At that moment there was a bang and a great shudder ran from the bottom of the ship to the Bridge. Advisor Exedore was almost knocked off his feet again.

But, the SDF-1 held and remained upright in the deep crater, her engines sinking into the ground, and then all was still, the ship having finally found her place on Earth.


	45. Chapter 45

"_A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out."_ Quote by Grace Pulpit

* * *

"Where are we going anyway, Roy?" Rick craned his head, trying to spot the SDF-1, but it was nowhere in sight.

"Commander Breetai's flagship," Roy told him, "looks like the SDF-1's all ready landed and you're in no shape for atmospheric re-entry."

Whilst Commander Breetai was now their ally, Rick didn't particularly relish the thought of going aboard his ship. "You think they're going to land on Earth, too?"

At the corner of his comm. screen, Roy shook his head. "Doubt it, but we'll at least be able to transform that Veritech back to Guardian mode."

"Vermillion Two to Skull Leader."

"Max!"

Max appeared on the other comm. screen, he smiled and waved. "Hey, Boss."

"Find anyone else out there, Sterling?" Roy asked.

Max shook his head. "I'm afraid not, but Miriya found another female Zentraedi, where exactly are we taking them?"

"Commander Breetai's flagship," Roy told him, "at least…that's the plan, do you think Ensign Parina could put a request to board out for us?"

Max gave a salute. "I'm sure she can, I'll contact her now."

Max disappeared from the comm. screen and Rick looked about again, noticing Earth.

"Damn," he muttered, almost to himself. "Doesn't look good down there, does it?"

"You said it," Roy replied.

"Do you think there's **any** survivors down there? Aside from Alaska Base?"

"I wouldn't count on Alaska Base still being there," Roy remarked, "they would have fired the Grand Cannon more than once if they had."

Rick swallowed, suppressing a shudder at the thought Lisa could very well have been in that Base. _Thank God, she got outta there._

"But they're could be survivors elsewhere," Roy said, not sounding exactly convinced by that. "It's a big planet, with a lot of people."

_Or at least there __**was**__._

* * *

"Sensors indicate no radiation," Vanessa announced from her threat board. "But the temperature's minus eighty-two degrees Celsius."

Kim gasped.

"That's absolutely **freezing**!" Sammie cried with a shudder.

"It's not too surprising," Captain Gloval said calmly, stroking his moustache. "The bombardment has no doubt burnt off some of the protective layers of the atmosphere."

Vanessa nodded. "Sensors also indicate that its survivable out there, the oxygen level in the atmosphere is twenty point nine precent."

"That's a surprise," Gloval turned towards Advisor Exedore, his eyebrows slightly raised. "Is the usual result of a Grand Fleet bombardment?"

Advisor Exedore nodded. "The desired outcome is a planet we can still use as a military base. To completely render it uninhabitable would be against our – or rather the Masters' best interests."

"The Earth will recover after all this then?" Lisa blurted, then put her hand up towards her mouth. "Oh, sorry, Captain, I didn't –"

Gloval put up his hand. "Never mind, Lisa, it's a pertinent question," he looked at Advisor Exedore. "Will it?"

"It will probably be a thousand of your 'years' before Earth returns to the way it was, but yes, it is all ready recovering from the bombardment as we speak."

Gloval nodded, then turned towards Claudia. "What condition is the ship's gravity in?"

"It's holding, sir, but the generators won't be able to keep that up for more than a day or two."

"Hmmm," he walked over to the view port and looked out at the inky blackness of the night. "Let's hope the temperature picks up a bit before then." He then turned and came to stand behind Vanessa. "Any predictions on when the disturbances in the electromagnetic field will die down? Commander Breetai survived the battle and it's necessary that we get into contact with him."

Vanessa entered some inputs. "We should be able to make contact in about eight hours."

"That will have to do. Lisa, can you get me into contact with Doctor Lang?"

"Yes, sir."

After a few seconds, Dr. Lang's voice came through the speakers.

"Captain Gloval, we haf landed safely, I see?"

"That's how it seems, Lang, the SDF-1 won't decide to break apart I hope."

"Hmmm…" it sounded as if Lang was making some calculations. "As long as we stay vere ve are we will be fine."

"I assumed that would be a given," the Captain nodded. "Now, Lang...what do you think the chances are that there are any survivors on the surface?"

"I really can't say, Captain, ze Zentraedi weaponry is different from anything that I or any of our group haf seen." Lang paused for a few moments. "Sensors seem to indicate that ze damage is to the planet's surface only, its possible then that anyvon who was significantly below the ground at ze time of the bombardment survived."

"We'll need to send out search groups as soon as possible then," Gloval looked back out of the view port. "Lisa, give all the pilots off duty time until five hundred hours, we'll start the searches then and we'll also be in contact with Commander Breetai's fleet by then."

"Aye, aye, sir," Lisa nodded and hurried to relay the order.

Gloval watched her, wondering if he should put her off duty as well, acutely award that she had just lost her father. He looked towards Claudia, who had lost her brother…

_We could all use some off-duty time,_ he decided.

"Claudia, call the relief techs up, once they arrive you'll all be off duty until five hundred." He looked at each drawn and tired face. "Try and get some rest, as well."

He knew though that it was one of those orders that would be hard to follow.

* * *

Breetai had been surprised to receive a communication from Miriya Parina, but when she explained the situation he had agreed to allow her, the survivor she had found, along with the three micronian pilots in her group aboard.

A few of the techs had looked quite uncomfortable with the idea, and Breetai couldn't blame them, it was bizarre enough to allow a **female** aboard the ship, let alone members of a race who only a lon ago had been sworn enemies. But things had changed and Breetai had been very strict in the order that no harm was to be done to their visitors.

"Miriya Parina and her group are three mil from the loading bay, my lord," a tech called up from his console.

"Commence loading bay entry procedure," Breetai grumbled in response.

The techs no matter what their personal feelings were, complied and shortly were reporting the successful landing of Parina and her group.

"Get them up on screen," he ordered when he received the confirmation.

The comm. screen appeared showing the loading bay with four micronian mecha (one extremely battered) and one Queadluun- Rau.

"First Officer Miriya," Breetai began, looking at the red Veritech. "That is the only survivor you found?"

"The males also found one of their own," Parina replied, gestured towards the battered Veritech.

Folding his arms, Breetai couldn't help but comment. "A sorry number."

"It was a vicious battle, Commander Breetai," was Parina's response, she had a slight edge to her voice.

_No longer enemies,_ Breetai reminded himself.

"I assume the micronians and you will wish to return to Earth?"

"Yes, Commander, the males wish to make the Veritech of the survivor they found safe for re-entry."

"Hmmm," Breetai raised an eyebrow, surprised. He couldn't image how the almost crushed micronian mecha could possibly continue on, but the micronians were nothing if not resourceful. All ready the blue Veritech and the white, black and yellow one were working on the third one with servos.

"And what of the Quadrono? We have lost contact with Commander Azonia's fleet, I cannot guess at their chance of survival, but I don't imagine it is very good."

"Seloy Deparra will accompany us to Earth," Parina declared.

"She has not been micronised, do you think the micronians will wish to have a full-sized Zentraedi on their planet?"

He could see the frown on Parina's face. "I do not believe Seloy is any condition to go through the micronisation process. But I am sure the Zentraedi's great size will offer benefits to the micronians in their rebuilding efforts."

At that moment she turned back to her controls and spoke in the micronian language to her comrades.

Though he could not speak it very well, he understood it well enough.

"I can't see the Captain objecting," one of the males replied. "About a million Zentraedi ships have fallen to Earth anyway and there's gotta be some survivors there. Just as long as they watch their step…"

Parina smiled, then spoke in Zentraedi. "Seloy will be fine to come as is."

"Very well then, continue," he replied, then turned back to the techs, there were still ships from the Imperial Fleet to bring in.

* * *

Jean felt frozen to the very core, it seemed as if she had spent her whole life walking through the chill across this barren desert landscape. She had trouble remembering that morning.

_Was it really only a few hours ago?_ Jean shook her head, it seemed completely impossible.

In fact she had to keep remind herself of why she was walking in the first place. She was trying to get to the Naval Base, it seemed useless to hope that there were survivors, but if she was going to die, she wanted to die in the place her dear Vince had.

But she was less and less certain she would even be able to find the Base, it was probably nothing but ashes now.

_So what am I doing? Just walking, walking until I die. _It sounded like the start of a bad country song, and Jean had a hysterical urge to laugh.

Suppressing the urge she looked up at the sky, it looked as if there was some sort meteor shower going on, but there was something about it…

At that moment, one of the falling meteors streaked across the light of the moon, taking shape…

And it didn't look like any meteor Jean had seen or read of.

It almost looked like…

_A space ship…_

The ship disappeared from view, and Jean shook her head. She had no time to consider the possibility of aliens.

Turning her watch towards her, her wrist stiff from how hard she had wrapped her arms around herself for warmth she looked at the time and tried to figure out just how long she had been walking.

Her watch had stopped however, it had gone through a lot since her father had given it to her for her tenth birthday - numerous trips to the beach, a trip to the snow, it had even gone through the washing machine…

Now it was broken.

_Fitting._

Then she stopped.

She knew with certainty, though she couldn't say how that she had just walked past the spot where the gate to the Base in Meridian had once stood. There was nothing that marked the spot as any different from the rest of the landscape, but Jean just **knew**.

She kept walking, heading towards where the hanger had once stood, it was gone of course, but perhaps Vince's ghost would linger there…

Jean blinked, quite certain that her eyes must be playing tricks on her.

Through the darkness she could see what looked like a form…not just a form, but a **person**.

_It can't be,_ she shook her head and closed her eyes tightly. _I'm imagining it, that's all..._

But when she opened her eyes the form was still there.

Quickening her pace, Jean hurried towards the form, sure that it would disappear…

Instead it became more and more distinct…

Until…

"**VINCE**!"

* * *

Deep inside the SDF-1, Rico, Konda, Bron and the twenty renegade Zentraedi were among the rest of Macross City huddling in the shelters.

Tensions were still high between the micronians and the Zentraedi, but in the midst of the battle with the Grand Fleet that had been forgotten, so they did not have to worry about taunts or people picking fights.

Not that that didn't mean the humans who were also in the shelter weren't giving them a wide berth.

But they didn't really notice.

"It's all over then," Karita spoke in a hopeful tone. "The war is over, we never have to worry about fighting again?"

The other Zentraedi looked at Rico, Konda and Bron, expecting them to be able to answer.

Swallowing nervously, Rico looked at his two friends. Somehow he didn't think it would be as easy as all that…

"We won't have to worry about High Command anymore," he finally said, and that was the truth at least.

The twenty Zentraedi broke into wide smiles and attempted to high-five each other, mostly missing.

"When do you think we'll get out and see the planet," Mardul wondered. "I've never been on a planet before."

The other Zentraedi nodded in agreement, their short life spans made it pretty unlikely that they would have.

"I don't think we'll be getting out any time soon," Konda said, brushing back his hair nervously. "There's got to be a lot of damage from the bombardment."

The other Zentraedi suddenly looked nervous as well.

"Do you –" Tezel looked over his shoulder at some micronians on the other side of the massive room. "Do you think they'll blame **us**?"

"They can't!" Benaro protested. "We had nothing to do with it. And Commander Breetai and his fleet tried to help!"

That was true, but Rico knew that emotions seldom made sense. In the case of love and friendship that was an advantage, but it also made humans a lot more likely to hate somebody on the basis of what they looked like or past associations.

At that moment the reinforced doors of the shelter slid open and one of the members of the RDF appeared, holding one of those odd micronian implements, a 'megaphone'.

The officer put it up to his mouth and spoke. "Attention everyone, as you are no doubt aware we've landed on the Earth. The temperature outside is currently too cold for disembarkment –"

There were some less than pleased grumblings among the micronians.

"The SDF-1 is also in no condition to transform and the gravity is giving out in some sectors. Therefore you are requested to remain here and await further instructions."

"We're supposed to sleep here?" One of the micronians shouted getting to his feet. "What the Hell on?"

"What about food?" Another micronian demanded. "We're starving in here!"

The micronian officer narrowed his eyes. "Now look here, we've just finished battling the largest fleet ever seen. Only half of us came back from that, so if you'll excuse us we don't really have the manpower to set you all up in comfort."

The two micronians flushed with embarrassment, but after a moment the first one asked. "Can we at least get some blankets in here…please?"

"I'll see what I can arrange," the officer replied. "Please remain calm and we'll keep you updated as soon as we get news."

With that the officer left and the two micronians sat down.

The Zentraedi fidgeted uncomfortably, none of them liked confrontational scenes since coming aboard the SDF-1.

"You don't think they'll come over **here** next?" Karita whispered, wringing his hands.

"Nah," Bron waved a hand. "Konda's not **that** much of a miracle worker when it comes to cooking."

The tension broken, the twenty Zentraedi laughed.

* * *

Minmei shivered under Kyle's jacket even though it wasn't that cold inside the SDF-1.

However, since all the civilians had to stay where they were for the moment, she was still in front of the observation window.

And outside a blizzard was swirling.

Minmei had seen snow before, but not for years and years, and the snow she remembered had fallen softly. The ferocity of this snow was just frightening.

She looked over her shoulder at her band, one of whom had somehow managed to sneak along a small bottle of whiskey and was passing it around.

Kyle meanwhile was standing at the observation window, arms folded and jaw set.

Sighing Minmei got to her feet and walked over to him.

"Look at this," he spoke before she could. "Everything's over."

Minmei swallowed, it **did** look grim out there…but still.

"It's not over, Kyle, we're still here, we'll rebuild."

Kyle turned to face her. "You mean the **military** will rebuild and we'll be their puppets."

She was taken aback by the venom in his voice, of course Kyle had never spoken well of the military, but right now…

"Let me tell you something, Minmei, I'm not sticking around for that."

"Wh-what do you mean?" She shrunk back a little.

"There's a whole planet out there…still…if the military thinks we're all just going to settle down here…" He shrugged and turned back to the observation window.

Minmei swallowed hard, Kyle was hard to live with, but she didn't want him to disappear…

And who could survive out there? Without help? There didn't seem to be any plants or trees out there… what would he eat? What would he **do**? And what about his parents, she was sure Aunt Lena would be inconsolable if her son left again.

She would have to talk him out of it somehow…but now didn't seem to be the time.

Instead she turned and walked back towards the band. _Or perhaps he talk __**himself**__ out of it…_ She hoped, but even as she did she knew it was wishful thinking.

* * *

Lisa really wished that the Captain had not put her off-duty. She appreciated his reasons, but she **really** didn't want to be alone right then.

It was discomforting too, despite the fact the gravity was holding, she knew that she was literally walking on the wall.

"Lisa!"

Turning she saw Claudia hurrying to catch up with her and stopped.

"You look like a haystack," Claudia remarked, once she caught up.

Lisa's hands went self-consciously to her hair, which had completely unravelled from the neat curls it was usually in.

Claudia smiled at her wryly. "Don't sweat it, girl, we've just fought the biggest battle in history."

Sighing, Lisa dropped her hands. "It's a pyrrhic victory though, isn't it? Looking out there, it's pretty obvious not much survived."

"Well…there **is** what Dr. Lang said," Claudia pointed out.

_People underground…_ It sounded unlikely to her, but remembering Vince, she thought better then to point that out to Claudia. Perhaps, somehow…some way…

"But come on, let's go have some tea…this is no time to be on your own." Claudia put a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't really feel like tea," Lisa shrugged.

"OK, then we can make it coffee, or cocoa or whatever you want."

Lisa gave a grudging smile. _Trust Claudia not to give up on a point…_

"All right, all right…I wish that husband of yours was here."

"Well, he's out there, looking for **your** beau."

Lisa's cheeks felt like they were burning and she ducked her head. "What beau? I don't have a beau!"

"Maybe not right now, but you **could**, don't think I didn't notice you two hanging out at Sterling's wedding. He picked you over Minmei, girl, it's a good sign."

Lisa fiddled with a lock of her hair. "I don't think it means anything, she was surrounded by her admirers, it wasn't like he had much of a chance to speak with her anyway."

Looking up quickly, she saw her friend shaking her head. "You underestimate yourself, you know."

Lisa just shook her head. "There's such a thing as being **too** optimistic, Claudia."

She stared back down at her feet again, but she was pretty sure she knew what her friend was doing, biting her lip to stop from saying anything. Thankfully, though, Claudia decided not to press the issue.

"Come on, let's have tea, we haven't had a girls' talk since you got back from Alaska Base."

"What's there to talk about?" Lisa asked, suppressing a shudder, she really didn't want to think too much about Alaska Base…

"Come on, Lisa, just work with me here," Claudia took her arm and Lisa decided she didn't really have much of a choice, so allowed her friend to pull her towards her quarters.

Lisa decided to satisfy herself by saying, warningly. "Whatever drink you've got at your place better be **good**."

* * *

There was the terrible sound of crunching and scraping metal, but sure enough, the Battloid managed to convert to Guardian.

Rick breathed a sigh of relief as he found himself in a cockpit again, Battloid mode had always made him feel a little claustrophobic.

"I can't believe you actually managed to make that work." Rick shook his head.

"You doubt us, Little Brother?" Roy raised an eyebrow on the comm. screen. "You of all people should remember Sterling here managed to dress up like one of the Zentraedi. Actually, I'm surprised he didn't manage to completely pimp this thing out."

In the right comm. screen Rick saw Max wave a hand, blushing.

Roy chuckled and shook his head. "Sterling, you really gotta learn to take a compliment." He then turned to Rick. "I guess it's my job to carry you around, just call me your pack horse."

"Giddy-up," Rick smirked.

"Watch it, buddy, I've still got some ammo left." Roy waggled a finger at him.

Rick grinned wider.

Roy didn't have ammo for long since in order to carry a detached Veritech cockpit, he had to get rid of the Gatling gun. Soon enough Rick's cockpit was secured to Skull One.

"Right," Roy straightened his helmet and checked his instruments. "Ensign Parina, can you get permission for us to head out?"

Miriya saluted and opening the comm. did so or at least Rick assumed she did, since he didn't understand a single word of Zentraedi.

After a few moments, Miriya spoke in English. "I'm afraid we can't leave yet."

Rick jumped slightly in his seat. "Huh? Why not?" So far no full sized Zentraedi had entered the loading bay, but that didn't mean he wasn't as uncomfortable as Hell being here.

"They aren't able to furnish us with the co-ordinates of where the SDF-1 has landed," Miriya said, "an after-affect of the bombardment, all communication has been blocked out."

Roy heaved an annoyed sigh. "Great…any idea how long the block out will last?"

In the corner of the comm. screen Rick saw Miriya pursing her lips thoughtfully. "Lord Breetai's technicians gave an estimation of fifteen hundred mil, that's five hours in your reckoning."

"Hmmm…well, I guess we can wait that out…not that we have much of a choice anyway."

Rick slumped back in his seat…_Figures_.

"It won't be so bad, guys," Max tried to reassure everyone, optimistic as ever. "We can think of **something** to do for five hours, it's not that long."

Rick snorted softly, shaking his head. _Five hours might not be long when you're counting down to combat, but once it's over…_

Roy smiled wryly. "Anyone got any playing cards?"

* * *

Sammie fell back on her bed with a deep sigh of relief and through her forearm across her eyes to block out the light.

"I'm so glad it's over," Vanessa sighed, pulling off her shoes and placing them neatly next to her bed before sinking down onto it.

"I can't believe it," Kim laid back folding her arms behind her head. "After everything…we're still here."

Vanessa shook her head. "I know it's amazing…just think about it, if the UEG **had** let us stay we wouldn't be here."

Sammie shuddered and sat back up. "It's so awful! How many do you think survived? Dr. Lang said some people could have-"

Vanessa shook her head. "I wouldn't be too hopefully, Sammie… You saw what it looked like out there…I didn't see a single tree or patch of grass or anything."

"I don't know how **anyone** could have survived."

"Oh, it's so horrible!" Sammie sounded as if she was about to burst into tears.

Vanessa and Kim shared a look, they hated to see their friend this way.

"But, it's not all bad news, Sammie," Kim reassured her. "Rico, Konda and Bron are OK."

Vanessa allowed herself a small smile. "Yeah and we'll probably get to see them sooner than we think."

Sammie wiped away a few tears that had rolled down her cheeks and managed a shaky smile of her own.

"Well, that **is** good… I hope they're doing all right in the shelters, all of them, I mean."

"Well, the gravity should hold out until it's safe to leave the ship," Vanessa said. "They're probably having more trouble getting comfortable enough to sleep."

"Mmmm," Kim muttered, sleepily, "I never thought I'd say this about military issue beds, but I don't think these have ever been so comfortable."

Vanessa and Sammie made murmurs of agreement as they lay back on their own beds, and very soon quiet descended on the room as the Bridge Bunnies got their first good sleep in days.

* * *

Despite his orders to the Bridge Girls, Gloval himself had not retired to his quarters to get some rest, instead he was heading to the Science Sector of the ship to speak to Lang.

The scientist had not left his post either, he was seated in front of one of the huge mainframes that co-ordinated the SDF-1's every function, going over lines and lines of data.

At the sight of Gloval, Lang got to his feet and saluted. "Sir."

"At ease," Gloval said, gruffly.

"A battle the like of vhich ve haff never seen," Lang said then.

"And hopefully something we won't see again," Gloval replied, suppressing a shudder, blocking out the images of a few short hours ago…the destruction of the entire planet…

"Vell, ve certainly von't have to worry about an attack from the Zentraedi on zat scale again."

Gloval furrowed his brow. "You make it sound as if you expect there may be a war from another quarter."

"Vell, in ze almost eleven and a haf years since the SDF-1 crashed on Earth, I haff done a fair amount of research into its' origins. It vould seem that ze builder of this ship, Zor, vas in the midst of a war with another alien race."

Gloval stroked his moustache nervously, that was certainly not the sort of news he wanted to hear right now.

"Of course, ze evidence is somevhat shaky, with Advisor Exedore's help however, I am sure ve will be able to make more sense of ze data that was originally stored on the ship."

"Hmmm," Gloval nodded, and decided to change the subject. "What is our communication status, Doctor? It is rather imperative that we contact Commander Breetai, not to mention Commander Fokker, Lieutenant Sterling and Ensign Parina."

Lang nodded. "Vell, I can't say I've had any luck with space communication, but communication systems on ze surface are beginning to clear up."

"There are communications from the surface?" Gloval raised an eyebrow. "White noise I presume?"

"Most of it, yes," Lang confirmed, "but it **does** suggest zat zere may be small pockets of survivors throughout ze globe."

The scientist had mentioned this before, but Gloval still found it quite surprising, considering the ferocity of the Zentraedi bombardment…

"Unfortunately, I can confirm zat Alaska Base is not among zose pockets of survival. High heat levels haff been detected in zat sector, consist with an explosion."

Gloval sighed, he had expected it, but it still hurt, especially when he considered how Lisa must be feeling and of course, he and Hayes had once been friends.

He then shook his head, there would be time enough to grieve later, right now, action needed to be taken.

"All right then, Lang, I want to arrange patrols to search the entire planet as soon as its' feasible."

Lang nodded and looked at his watch. "I vould estimate that all communication systems should be in full vorking order in about four hours. Ve can begin then."

"Good," Gloval pulled his cap down on his brow. "I wish to be notified, though, as soon as we can contact Commander Breetai's flagship."

"Certainly," Lang saluted.

Managing a small smile of thanks, Gloval returned the salute and then exited the massive room, heading for his quarters so that he could follow his own orders and get some rest.

Once, he had a few puffs on his pipe, of course.


	46. Chapter 46

"_It's a new world out there, old friendships will be tested and old enmity must be thrown aside…at least that is what I hope..."_ Quote from the Journal of Captain Henry Gloval

* * *

Seloy had been dozing, which was definitely not the Zentraedi way, but she had been so tired, her eyelids so heavy, they had closed without her realising it.

She had no idea how much time had passed since Miriya had rescued her, but her eyes snapped open at the unwelcome sound of a male voice.

"Attention, First Officer Miriya, contact has been established with the micronians on Zor- that is the SDF-1. We are patching your group through now."

Miriya spoke to one of the micronians in her group, a male judging by the sound of the voice that spoke next.

Seloy did not know the micronian language so whatever the micronian said went over her head.

Opening her comm. Seloy tuned into Miriya's frequency.

"What is going on?"

Miriya appeared in the corner of the Quaedluun-Rau's face plate, the image becoming fuzzy ever few seconds. "The Skull Leader is being furnished with the co-ordinates of the micronian ship."

Seloy frowned. "You shall be going back there then?" She was surprised at how much that bothered her. It really shouldn't have, since Miriya had quite obviously thrown her lot in with the micronians.

What Miriya said next though, really **was** unexpected. "You will be accompanying us, Lady Azonia and her fleet have disappeared."

"G-go to the micronian planet?" Seloy shook her head. "I cannot possibly go **there**."

"Permission has been obtained to bring you with us," Miriya said, her tone stubborn and stern. "You may be injured, it is certain that you will need to be cut from you Quaedluun-Rau."

At this Seloy almost baulked, in fact she would have, but Miriya was right, her mecha was extremely crushed in, she could barely move at all.

As disturbing as the thought of being on the micronian planet was, Seloy knew that she couldn't stay where she was, aboard a males' ship? It was unconscionable.

"Very well then," she finally gave in, leaning back in her seat. "But as soon as I am able I wish to search for Lady Azonia and the rest. The last transmission I received from them indicated that most of our fleet survived the worst of the battle. I am sure they are out there somewhere."

If Miriya was surprised at her decision, she did not show it, in fact she nodded and said. "If that's the case, they have probably set down on the planet. Advisor Exedore told the micronians that our supplies of Protoculture are almost totally depleted, there is no way they could have folded or travelled far at all."

Seloy hoped Miriya was right, as First Officer of the Quadronos it was **her** responsibility to know what had happened to her pilots. Not that there was anyone to report their status too…

"We will be leaving in twenty mil," Miriya's voice broke into Seloy's thoughts.

"I am ready," Seloy replied, bringing her first to her chest in a salute.

* * *

No-one had had any cards (they were hardly standard Veritech supplies), but to his surprise Rick had actually managed to nod off. He had been in the middle of an extremely strange dream, back at the Flying Circus, but instead of a vintage World War I plane his father was telling him to get in a Zentraedi Battlepod!

But the booming Zentraedi voice had woken him and Roy was just finishing up speaking to the SDF-1 Bridge.

"OK, team, we've been given the all clear to proceed to snowy Canada, everyone ready?"

"Ready," Max and Miriya said together.

"Roger," Rick gave Roy the thumbs-up, even though in his current position he really didn't have anything to do except make sure he was strapped in.

In the left comm. screen Roy nodded, straightened his helmet and said. "Well, we better to thank our visitors for their hospitality."

Rick raised an eyebrow. "What hospitality?"

"Well, they let us land in here, didn't they?" Roy shrugged. "Just a coupla days ago they were shooting at us, so it's only polite."

Rick shook his head not too sure about that, but Roy was all ready asking Miriya if she could pass on the message to the Zentraedi.

Miriya did so, and there was a response, which she translated looking quite bemused as she did so.

"Lord Breetai returns your thanks and wishes us a non-prickly journey."

Rick raised both of his eyebrows, rather confused by this.

"I think he means 'safe'," Max suggested, with a small smile.

"Hmm," Roy looked at Rick and they both fought back laughter. "Well, makes sense…I guess. Can you thank him for the sentiment, Ensign?"

Miriya passed that on and then announced that the Loading Bay doors would open in a minute.

"Roger," Roy nodded and then spoke to the SDF-1 Bridge. "This is Skull Leader, we're heading back ETA is 20 minutes 33 seconds."

"Roger, Skull Leader," one of the relief techs confirmed. "Please proceed to Bay Thirteen on your arrival."

Rick breathed a sigh of relief as the bay doors open and Roy with Max, Miriya and the Quadrono following headed out into space towards the earth.

* * *

Jean shivered, despite the fact that she had Vince's jacket wrapped around her and was beneath the ground in what remained of Meridian Air Base.

Vince was not with her, she had hesitated to let him go when he had got to his feet a few hours ago telling her that he should look for other survivors and find food stocks.

He had assured that he would be OK, setting the co-ordinates of the underground room into his phone, showing her it's manual compass that didn't rely on GPS as proof that he'd be able to get back to her and had headed out into the night.

Jean had tried to sleep, knowing that allowing herself to become exhausted wouldn't help the situation at all. It was impossible to get to sleep, not because of the hard metal floor because of the thoughts that were whirling through her mind.

"_They were lying to us all along."_ Vince had said when she had finally stopped hugging him so tightly he could barely move. _"Those bastards in the UEG…We __**were**__ under attack by aliens."_

Jean's immediate response had been to shake her head, it sounded so ridiculous…but then, she took in the desolated landscape around her…there was no denying it. Something outer-worldly had caused this.

She had realised then that she was crying and Vince had taken her in his arms again before leading her back underground out of the freezing winds.

Getting to her feet, Jean headed towards the stairs that led up to the surface, looking up she saw light…the sun had risen.

Clutching Vince's jacket around her shoulders she headed up them, wondering if maybe…somehow…everything would not look so bad in the light of day.

Her hopes were wrong.

It looked much, much worse.

It was a completely barren landscape…where once trees, grass and the odd swamp had been was nothing but dusty pockmarked ground. There wasn't a single building, a single animal, a single sign of life at all.

At least not until a shadow shape appeared on the horizon, the sun was bright, but she knew that it was Vince and that he didn't have anyone with him.

"Jean, what are you doing up here?" Vince called as soon as he saw her, picking up his stride to reach her. "You'll freeze."

"And you won't?" She pulled his jacket off and pushed it back into his hands.

"Hey, I've got a lot of insulation on this frame," Vince assured her, pushing the jacket back towards her.

Jean managed a small smile. "Only fat insulates, not muscle"

Vince shrugged. "Let's head back down," he gestured towards the stairs and pointed to the backpack he had slung over his shoulder. "I've got breakfast here."

Jean allowed him to lead her back down to the bunker.

"You didn't find anyone though," it was a statement.

Vince shook his head, placing the backpack on the floor and crouching down beside it.

"Were there trees? Anything?"

Vince handed her a can and shook his head again. "It's a complete wasteland out there…but people **have** to have survived, you and I couldn't have been the only ones underground."

Jean looked the can over, but it didn't have any clues as to what was in it, gamely she pulled the ring top open. It was some sort of minced product that was all she could tell.

"I didn't see anyone in the parking garage," she replied, taking a quick look at the expiry date on the bottom of the can.

"Hmmm," Vince had dug into the contents of his can. "Well there's no-one here on the Base either."

"What are we going to do?" Jean took an experimental taste of the mince, surprised to find that it tasted rather good.

"We need to find a car, get some extra gas to keep us going and start driving. Considering this was an attack, whoever was behind it would have aimed for any military sites, like this one, the bombardment probably wasn't this bad all over."

Jean considered that more of a hope than a certainty, but decided not to dispel it.

"Well, there were plenty of cars in the hospital's parking garage…unless it caved in later on. My keys are probably there somewhere."

Vince nodded. "Either way I'll get us a car…you can wait here."

"What?" Jean blinked in surprise. "Don't you think I can walk or something?"

Vince looked taken aback. "Of course you can, but I figured, well…" he gestured towards her feet which were bloody from last night.

"Thanks for the thought, but they don't hurt too much…I could make it back to Meridian with you."

Vince opened his mouth as if to protest, but thought better of it. "There might be some shoes around here," he said instead. "There's a bathroom down the end of the corridor so we can wash up a bit before we head out there."

"There's a bathroom?" Jean almost dropped her can in surprise.

"Well yeah," Vince shrugged, "the military has to use bathrooms like everyone else."

Jean shook her head and got to her feet. "Vince dear, you need to learn the first thing about living with a woman... point out the bathroom before **anything** else."

Finishing up the last bit of mince in the can, she hurried out into the corridor.

* * *

T.R Edwards lay on his back, completely exhausted staring up into the now blue sky.

He had been surprised to see how normal the sky looked…with typical human mindset, Edwards had assumed that the destruction on the ground would have extended to the air as well. He had expected the sky to be a sickly red or perhaps a brown to match the land.

But bright blue it was…

There were dark clouds on the horizon, where he had been heading until his legs had given out from under him. Thankfully it had not rained or snowed where he was, and his uniform designed for the Alaskan climate had kept him warm enough.

His vision too had bettered slightly…everything was still very blurry, but he could at least make things out.

Not that it was much help, he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to get back up any time soon. His only hope was that Gloval would send out search patrols from the SDF-1 and knowing that bleeding heart Edwards was pretty sure he would.

_He could hurry it along,_ Edwards thought sourly, he could probably survive for a while out here, but it didn't want to spend any more time in the elements then he had to.

Not to mention the fact that throughout the night, he had seen more and more ships falling to Earth, the remains of the alien fleet Edward's supposed. And not all of them had shown the hallmarks of breaking up in the atmosphere, which meant some of those 50 foot monster survived too. He certainly didn't want to be lying helplessly on the ground if one came across him, considering his only means of defence was a small side-arm.

He realised looking up at the sky that there was one thing different about it today.

The lack of birds…even in November there were still birds in this area of Alaska, or at least they **had** been.

Edwards smirked wryly. _And all those damn environmentalists thought __**we**__ would be the ones to wipe out the wildlife. Wonder if any of them are around to see __**this**__._

_

* * *

  
_

Lisa suppressed a yawn as she and Claudia headed for the Bridge. Five hours really hadn't been enough especially considering the fact she had tossed and turned for what must have been two hours before falling into a light sleep.

Her thoughts had been mostly filled with her parents, her childhood, but Rick had entered her thoughts as well. Was he all right? Could he **possibly **be all right? The SDF-1's communications with Fokker, Sterling and Parina had been cut off before she could find out anything. If nothing else, Lisa was desperate to find out if Rick had been found alive now that the communication systems were back online.

Captain Gloval was on the Bridge when they arrived, their two relief techs looked over their shoulders and sighed with relief at the sight of them.

"Claudia, Lisa," Captain Gloval greeted them, his tired eyes crinkling and he smiled. "I hope you at least got a few hours sleep."

Lisa and Claudia saluted.

"Somehow, sir," Claudia remarked, she was in a remarkably good mood all things considered. "Coffee will have to do the rest…"

_Trust Claudia to be optimistic._ Lisa thought, not unkindly.

Their relief techs came over and saluted them before giving a brief report on what had happened in the last hours before taking their leave.

"The conquering heroes are returning then," Claudia remarked, smiling wider.

Captain Gloval nodded. "They've found Lieutenant Hunter," he seemed to be looking towards Lisa as he said this. "Also a female Zentraedi."

"That's all?" Lisa said, though her heart fluttered knowing that against all odds Rick had lived, the fact there were only two survivors was a distressing one.

"I'm afraid so," the Captain adjusted his hat and sat back down in his command chair. "It's possible more Zentraedi were found by their own forces though."

At that moment the hatch slid open and the Bridge Bunnies headed onto the Bridge, deep in conversation as usual.

"Ahem," the Captain cleared his throat.

"Ooh," Sammie squeaked and saluted quickly, Kim and Vanessa following suit.

"I'm happy to see you three looking so refreshed," the Captain told them. "We have quite a lot to do here, searching for survivors is our top priority."

"Yes sir!" The Bridge Bunnies chimed in unison.

Once everyone was at their posts, Lisa began going through the squadrons and assigning each an area, every so often checking the long range radar as the dots identified as Fokker, Sterling, Parina and one other headed closer.

"Sir, Skull Leader and the others will enter the atmosphere in thirty-seven seconds at sixty-four degrees fifty minutes north and a hundred and forty-seven degrees and fifty two minutes west." Lisa informed the Captain.

"Good, as soon as they've cleared the upper atmosphere get into contact with them, tell them to fly low and look for any survivors in the Alaska area."

The mention of Alaska sent a stab of pain through her heart, but Lisa nodded and turned back to her console continuing her work.

When the radar indicated Fokker and the rest were back in communication range she opened the comm. net. "SDF-1 to Skull Leader, come in, please."

"Hey, Hayes," Fokker drawled in that annoying manner he sometimes had. "What's going downside?'

"Can you be serious, please, Commander?" Lisa shot back, tiredness making her even less patient for sloppy tac net ettiquette.

"Aye, aye, ma'am," Fokker seemed to realise she was serious and immediately behaved himself. "Skull Leader, Vermillion Two and Six will make contact in five minutes. Vermillion Leader's cockpit is secured beneath mine and Vermillion Three and Six are escorting the Zentraedi we found."

"Roger, Captain Gloval requests that you make a low fly over the surface on your way back to the SDF-1. It's possible there's survivors down there, so use your heat sensors and short-wave radar."

"Aye, aye, Hunter and I will do that, Sterling and Parina need to bring the Zentraedi in, her mecha's pretty mangled."

Lisa looked over at the Captain, who nodded his head.

"Roger, Skull Leader, keep in radio contact."

A few minutes later, Lisa had completed assigning squadrons to various North American sectors, which she passed on to the Captain.

He looked over the print-out and then nodded. "Send them out now, please."

"Aye, aye, sir," Lisa took the print-out back and opening the comm. net sounded General Quarters.

"Attention all Veritech pilots, attention all Veritech pilots, please proceed to the Prometheus to prepare for wide-range searching for any survivors on the planet. Yellow, Blue and Green squadrons will take off from Bays one to twelve. All Squadron leaders report to in to receive your search sectors."

Once she finished, she noticed that Sterling, Parina and the third dot were closing in quickly and looking out the view port she saw them coming into view.

"This is Vermillion Two," Max Sterling's voice came over Lisa's comm. "Vermillion Six and I are bringing in a member of the Quadrono Battalion."

"The battalion I once led," Miriya spoke up. "Her name is Seloy Deparra, I believe she may be injured."

Lisa frowned. _An injured full-sized Zentraedi? How are we supposed to deal with __**that**__?_

She shot a look at the Captain, who was looking thoughtful.

"Have them report to Doctor Lang and the scientists, they'll be able to help, I'm sure." He suggested.

Nodding, Lisa turned back to her console. "Roger Vermillion Two and Six, please proceed to bay thirteen and report to Dr. Lang as soon as you have landed."

"Roger, Bridge."

Lisa returned to co-ordinating the Veritech squadrons, wondering if they'd find anyone out there…

* * *

Roy scanned the heat sensors as he made a sweep of the area. Not a single anomaly in the readings had appeared so far.

Rick's voice suddenly broke his concentration. "Do they really think we're gonna find anyone?"

Looking down at his Little Brother's image, Roy could see by the look on his face what he thought.

"It's not likely, I agree," Roy returned, returning his eyes to the heat sensor readouts, "but we've got our orders and you can never be sure, can you?"

Rick shrugged, but went back to observing the radar on his console, which was connected to Skull One's radar.

He had never been to Alaska, but Roy had seen enough pictures of it to know that it looked completely different now. Where once there had been forests and glaciers and wide rivers there was nothing to be seen but brown dirt.

They were near the location of Alaska Base now, at least according to the co-ordinates on the GPS, here the ground was blackened.

The heat sensors picked up a slight increase in temperature on the surface, but nothing too extreme, it would be safe to land. _Although from the looks of that place I don't think anyone could have lived through that…_

But he figured, considering the barrel of the blown-out Grand Cannon was still intact providing a passage into the Base, he and Rick might as well take a closer look.

"Skull Leader to SDF-1, the Grand Cannon barrel is intact and we're heading in to take a look around. Not sure if radio contact will hold, so don't panic if you don't hear from us for a few minutes."

Lisa appeared in the right side comm. screen. "Roger, Commander Fokker." She paused briefly, not signing off. "Can you…please look carefully."

Remembering Admiral Hayes, Roy saluted. "Aye, aye, ma'am."

Lisa nodded. "SDF-1 out."

"Uh, Roy, do you think this is safe?" Roy could actually hear Rick swallowing nervously.

"All the sensors indicate it will be and if the thing didn't cave in when the Cannon exploded I don't think a Veritech's gonna give it any trouble."

Rick didn't look entirely convinced, but Skull One descended into the Grand Cannon's barrel and Roy turned on the search lights.

The silence was eerie, punctuated only by the sound of wires or bits of metal falling miles to the bottom of the Cannon.

As he'd expected, Skull One's radio became inoperable a couple of miles down, so instead Roy opened the PA.

"Attention, this is Commander Fokker of the Skull Squadron, stationed on the SDF-1, any survivors please respond."

The only reply was the echo of his announcement.

"Damn, it's creepy in here," Rick remarked, his voice hushed.

Roy had to agree, there wasn't even any signs of bodies attesting to the power of the explosion.

He put out a few more calls, but it was painfully obvious that his instincts had been right, no-one had survived down there.

"Well, it looks like we won't be bringing back any good news from here," he said to Rick, shaking his head.

"Yeah…" Rick's looked rather pale.

Giving one last sweep of Skull One's search light's over the place, Roy headed back up the barrel of the Cannon and back into the sky.

"Skull Leader to SDF-1," Roy called over the tac net.

"SDF-1 to Skull Leader," Lisa appeared on the comm. screen.

"I'm afraid there's no survivors at Alaska Base, Vermillion Leader and I made a sweep of the place."

Lisa's shoulders slumped and she ducked her head, but only for moment, she looked back up. "Roger, Skull Leader, return to the SDF-1."

"Aye, aye, ma'am," Roy affirmed. "And…sorry."

"Thank you," she said softly.

Roy turned Skull One onto a heading that would send them back to the SDF-1, but kept the heat sensors going just in case, not that he really expected anything…

"Hey, what's this?"

"What's what?" Rick asked.

Tapping in a few inputs, Roy sent footage from the heat sensors to Rick's console. "That blip there."

Rick leaned close to his screen, his brow furrowed. "It **does** look like something…but right in the middle of nowhere? It has to be a mistake, doesn't it?"

"Maybe…" Roy said slowly. "But maybe not… Skull Leader to SDF-1, we've got a reading here, request permission to investigate."

Lisa reappeared on screen, the surprise on her face evident. "SDF-1 here…are you sure the reading is accurate."

"It looks like it, I haven't seen any anomalies like it before."

"Roger, Skull Leader, investigate at your discretion."

"OK, Little Brother, we're going on," Roy gave Rick a heads-up before switching to Guardian and heading slowly towards the blip.

* * *

A few moments ago, the Captain had asked Claudia and the Bridge Bunnies to begin preparations for off-loading the SDF-1. The temperature outside was still bitingly cold, but survivable. The snow that had fallen all through the night had mostly melted and weather sensors indicated that there wouldn't be another snow storm or any other precipitation for some days.

"All Destroid pilots please report to _Daedalus_ to receive instructions regarding all citizens," Claudia called over the PA. "All shelter supervisors please contact the Bridge immediately."

The calls started flooding in to Sammie and Kim almost immediately, meanwhile Vanessa was speaking to the navigation techs co-ordinating the best areas around the SDF-1 to begin reconstructing Macross City.

Claudia was slightly distracted every time Lisa received a call from 'Skull Leader' one thing was sure, Roy was taking his sweet time getting back!

If he actually found someone out there, he'd be the first, the other Veritech squadrons had so far reported total desolation and no sign of life - animal, plant, human or even Zentraedi.

Dr. Lang appeared on her console. "Lt. Grant," he greeted her with a salute. "If I may speak vith the Captain regarding ze relocation of ze city?"

"Captain," Claudia called over her shoulder, "I'm putting Dr. Lang on the main line."

The Captain had been concentrating on Lisa's reports from the Veritech squadrons, but now he turned towards her. "Thank you, Claudia. What's the report, Doctor?"

"I am sending through images of ze areas ve have defined," Dr. Lang's voice came over the loudspeaker.

The Captain came over and looked over Claudia's shoulder as the report appeared on screen, an outline of the terrain immediately surrounding the SDF-1 with red points.

"Hmmm…well, they're all relatively close to the ship," the Captain stroked his moustache. "Seems our luck is beginning to look up."

"Indeed, ve shall begin zen?"

Captain Gloval nodded authoritatively. "If there's any problems contact me immediately."

"Of course," Dr. Lang replied.

Claudia watched as the Captain walked up to the view port and looked out at the barren earth before them.

"I hope it's not just wishful thinking," he murmured after a moment, almost to himself. "If there's anything we, the human race, need right now, its luck."

He turned towards Lisa, who senses his look raised her head from her console readouts. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Captain, no reports of survivors as yet."

Captain Gloval sighed and turned to check on Sammie and Kim.

Claudia watched as Lisa returned to her work. She was about to return to her own, but then hesitated. Slipping from her console she quickly went over to her friend.

"Has there been any reports from Mississippi?" She asked in a low voice.

Lisa looked up and shook her head. "Not yet, but Claudia…" she trailed off.

Claudia put a hand on Lisa's shoulder. "I know, I know…but at least I'd be certain…" She wasn't too sure she **wanted **to be certain, but then recalling the painful, horrifying hours she and Vince had spent before learning what had happened to their parents.

_No,_ she thought, returning to her console. _It's better to know._

_

* * *

  
_

"How do we know this isn't a Zentraedi?" Rick suddenly spoke up, looking nervous.

Roy shook his head. "I don't think so, the signature is way too small for something fifty foot tall…looks more human to me."

"A human? In the middle of all this," Rick shook his head in disbelief. "It can't be."

"Never say never, Little Bro," Roy replied, and began descending, dividing his attention between his readouts and the land outside the cockpit.

Slowly a shape began to take form…lying prone on the ground, the sensors indicated that the form was alive.

But was it animal? Or human?

"It's a person!" Rick suddenly shouted, closer to the ground in his position on the underside of Skull One.

Roy opened the PA. "Attention, this is Commander Roy Fokker and Lieutenant Rick Hunter from the SDF-1. We're here to help, don't panic and don't move if you're injured."

Whoever it was, either wasn't injured or decided to move anyway, rolling getting unsteadily to their feet. There was something extremely familiar about the figure, but Roy couldn't put his finger on it, except to notice that they were wearing a UEDC uniform.

"Looks like someone survived Alaska Base after all," Roy remarked in surprise.

Landing Skull One in Guardian, Roy lowered the front until it was almost touching the ground.

He prepared to make a transmission to Lisa back on the Bridge, his arm suddenly froze in mid-move.

For a minute he felt like he couldn't breathe. His eyes widened stunned…_ It couldn't be. Hell, it couldn't be…_

The figure continued staggering closer, his face covered with blood, a hole where the right eye had been.

Roy pressed a button on his console, Skull One's canopy opened, and biting cold air hit his face, which only served to show he wasn't seeing things.

"Well, Fokker!" The survivor yelled hoarsely. "It's true what they say then, only the cockroaches survive."

"Edwards!"


	47. Chapter 47

"_Prior to our war with you micronians, Zentraedi lived in a strict, hierarchical manner. The rules were many and direct. This human notion of yours of "helping" and "supporting" each other was completely foreign. I dare say this doesn't really bode well for the future of rebuilding this planet."_ Remark from Exedore Formo to Dr. Emil Lang, recorded in Lang's _The Robotech Journals_

_

* * *

  
_

Exedore had left the Bridge when Gloval had to get some rest, when macronised Zentraedi rarely needed sleep, but once micronised…Exedore had been quite surprised at how exhausted he'd felt especially after such a battle.

The quarters Captain Gloval had shown him too were also far larger and many times more comfortable then any accomdations on a Zentraedi ship.

Which explained why he had only just woken up three hundred mil ago.

And now he was only just putting on his uniform having spent quite a bit of time under what the micronians termed 'a shower'.

Zentraedi hygiene wasn't exactly considered a necessity and when the smell finally required it, they would be cleansed by a fine mist.

Straightening the collar on his uniform, Exedore left the room, heading back towards the Bridge. A keen sense of direction was something that had served him well and it wasn't too long before he arrived, the hatch sliding open to admit him.

"Advisor Exedore," Captain Gloval got to his feet.

"Captain, I must thank you again for your 'hospitality' I believe the word is."

"You're quite welcome, Advisor, after all without your help we would never would have survived."

Exedore bowed his head.

"We're preparing to offload the ship," the Captain continued.

Exedore's eyes widened in surprise. "All ready?"

"Well, the anti-gravity system that is holding the ship cannot hold up for much longer. Besides, the citizens of Macross have been aboard this vessel for a very long time. Our planet may not look like it once did, but it is **still** our planet."

Exedore couldn't say he understood this reasoning, but he decided to let it pass.

"We have all ready sent out our Veritech squadrons in search of survivors human or alien," the Captain continued. "How many Zentraedi do you think will have survived?"

Exedore shook his head. "I can't really say, I'm afraid, it depends on many factors…Lord Breetai has confirmed however that most of the surviving ships from the Grand Fleet were burnt up in your planet's atmosphere. I believe the estimated number of those that didn't was thirty percent. Of those…it would depend on the damage aboard, and how the heat shields held up. Our ships can take many times more heat than a Zentraedi can, so the fact that a ship has been found intact is no guarantee."

Captain Gloval pulled down on his cap and nodded. "But there would be **some** survivors?"

"Most likely, yes."

"We need your help then, will you be able to record a message to the Zentraedi that we can play over our Veritechs PA systems? If any weaponry survived, we certainly wouldn't want them shooting at us."

"Of course."

The Captain lead him over to one of the females at the front of the Bridge, Exedore felt a flash of nervousness, which he quickly tried to suppress, of course the Imperative was hard to ignore.

"You can record the message from Claudia's console," Gloval explained.

"Thank you," Exedore nodded, managing a small smile at Claudia.

After a few mil of thought, Exedore decided on what to say.

"Attention all Zentraedi, it is, I, Domillian Exedore. Lord Breetai has aligned himself with the inhabitants of this planet, and together we have defeated the Great Commander Dolza. We have freed our race from the thrall of the Robotech Masters. I urge you all then, to respond to this call and come with the micronians, you will not be put on trial, you will not be tortured or disciplined. For the Glory of the Zentraedi."

The message recorded, he took a rather large step back from the female, trying not to make it too obvious.

The female gave him a smile and one of those strange eye movements micronians called a 'wink'.

"That sounded like powerful stuff," she spoke, "I hope it works."

"Ahem…" Exedore felt the blood rush to his cheeks. "Well…uh…thank you."

It was about then that he noticed he had managed to step closer to the other female, Commander Hayes.

"We'll transmit it to the Veritech squadrons now," she told him, offering him a subdued smile. "Hopefully we'll get some response."

Exedore nodded mutely and retreated towards the back of the Bridge.

Where he was surrounded by three **more** females.

_I must have overlooked them in the heat of the battle,_ he thought, tugging at his uniform collar.

Each of the three females gave him a brief smile and continued with their work.

He really wasn't sure if he could ever get used to these micronian customs.

_I cannot even understand how __**they **__can do it…_ he thought, shaking his head.

* * *

Roy's first instinct on seeing Edwards, despite the man's condition, was to jump out and take a swing at the son of a bitch.

But of course, this was no time for personal grudges. Lowering Skull One's nose right down to the ground, he undid his harness, pulled off his helmet and climbed out of the cockpit.

"You're actually bothering to help me? That's the damn bleeding heart Internationalists for you."

"You really think this is the best time to pick a fight, Edwards?"

Edwards merely shrugged.

"How did you survive Alaska Base?" Roy asked then, even though he was pretty sure he knew.

"As they say, Fokker, only idiots stand around waiting for bombs to go off. I got the Hell out there…I guess the rest of them hung around like the good little soldiers they were." Edwards sneered, then winced bring his hand to his face. "Are you actually going to **help** me, Fokker? Or are you enjoying this?"

Roy took a better look at Edwards's injuries and winced, the man was in pretty bad shape, there was no doubt about.

"Of course, I'm going to help you, I didn't land here to gawk," Roy was slightly defensive. Turning he headed back to Skull One looking for his First Aid kit, and while he was at it he got on the radio to Rick.

"Who the Hell is that guy, Roy?" His face appearing on the bottom left of the comm. screen. "How'd he get out here?"

"His name's Edwards, I knew him from the war," Roy replied, tersely. _Where the Hell is that damn thing…_ "He was at Alaska Base."

"There's a survivor?! Is there anyone else?"

Roy shook his head as he finally got his hand on the First Aid kit. "The only reason he's here is he turned tail. I'm gonna see if I can patch him up a bit then we're gonna bring him back in."

"Where's he going to sit, these things aren't built for two?"

It was a good question and Roy considered. "Well, if I put the seat forward enough I should be able to squeeze him in back."

"You? How're you supposed to fly if you do that…" Rick shook his head. "I'll ride with him."

Roy had to say he was relieved, he certainly didn't relish the thought of flying with T.R Edwards sitting right behind him. "Thanks, Little Brother."

Turning back he saw that Edwards had staggered closer to Skull One and came over with the First Aid kit.

"You a nurse now?"

"Shut up, Edwards," Roy snapped back, opening the kit and pulling out a thick bandage.

"Do you even know what you're doing?"

"I can figure it out, it's only 'til we get back to the SDF-1 anyway."

Surprisingly, Edwards allowed Roy to wrap the bandage rather haphazardly around his head, covering his right eye socket.

That done they headed back to Skull One, where Rick had opened Vermillion One's canopy and pushed his seat as far forward as it would go.

"Who's this?" Edwards raised his remaining eyebrow. "Couldn't keep hold of your Veritech, kid?"

Rick narrowed his eyes, but bit his tongue.

"Just get in there Edwards," Roy was tempted to give the guy a push, but instead turned and climbed back into his own cockpit and pulled his helmet back on. "I'm taking off in two minutes, if you don't want to be left behind I suggest you move it."

"Is that anyway to talk to an injured comrade? One who outranks you no less?" Edwards snarled.

Roy declined to answer opening the tac net. "This is Skull Leader to SDF-1, come in."

"SDF-1 to Skull Leader," Lisa replied appearing in the left side of the comm. screen.

"We've found a survivor, Colonel T.R Edwards of Alaska Base," Roy reported, noticing Lisa's eyes widening. "Seems he escaped before the explosion," he added, hating to dash Lisa's hopes.

Lisa looked away for a moment, then straightened her shoulders. "Roger, Skull Leader, is Colonel Edwards injured?"

"We'll need a medic waiting, it looks like he got hit in the head with some shrapnel, lost his right eye." Roy confirmed with a nod.

"Roger, they'll be waiting in Bay Thirteen," Lisa told him.

"Aye, aye ma'am." Roy gave a salute, then prepared Skull One for take off. "Everyone strapped in down there?" He asked of Vermillion One.

"Roger," Rick answered, and though he said nothing, Roy could see Edwards behind his Little Brother.

"Skull Leader coming in, ETA nine minutes, seven seconds," he informed Lisa and then opened the throttles lifting Skull One into the air, before converting back to fighter mode and heading back towards Base.

* * *

The remaining ships of Khyron's and Azonia's fleet landed hard on icy ground.

As the shuddering subsided, Yiata let go off the console and turned to Azonia.

"We've landed in the upper regions of the planet, my lady," she reported. "Conditions outside are icy and not survivable for long periods, we'll have to remain inside our ships."

Azonia brushed her cape back over her shoulders. "That's fine. Yiata, contact Khyron."

Yiata raised her eyebrows, she still couldn't believe that her Commander decision to ally with Khyron, she kept waiting for a double-cross, but it didn't seem to be coming.

But it was her duty to comply. "Yes, my Lady," she saluted and turned to the techs, relaying the order.

Soon enough Lord Khyron's face appeared on the comm. screen.

"Lady Azonia, I see the landing wasn't too much on your ships."

"Yours held up as well, I see, Lord Khyron," Yiata looked to see that her Commander's lips were curved, but not in her usual smirk. "What do you propose we do now?"

Lord Khyron looked thoughtful for a moment, rubbing his chin. "I believe we should count survivors, after all, if we have any hope of conquering this planet we need to know our numbers."

Azonia nodded. "Fine idea, Lord Khyron, I'll begin right away and report back."

Lord Khyron too curved his lips in a strange smile and saluted before breaking the connection.

"All right, Yiata, let's begin the count."

Yiata nodded and hurried to put out a call to the surviving ships, quite bothered by Lady Azonia's behaviour. _Why is she behaving like that? What is she thinking?_ Only a few lons ago, Yiata had been certain in her Commander and certain in her ability to know what Lady Azonia was thinking, but now…

"This is Kazianna Hesh," the voice came over the crackling radio. "First Officer Seloy is…missing…Vividine Chodra, Lolea Kren, Masena Atil and Neana Kos and myself survived the battle, but only one of our Quaedlunn-Rau's remain functional and I'm not sure how long it will hold up."

Lady Azonia nodded. "Your message is received, Officer Kazianna, stay alert for further orders."

Further reports came in, and Yiata calculated that around half of the female Zentraedi had survived the battle. The news was welcomed by Azonia, he folded her arms.

"I almost regret that Dolza did not survive to see this," she looked over at Yiata. "He looked down upon us, I know he did...I may have failed to capture Zor's Fortress…" she clenched a fist. "But **we** have survived the lon."

Yiata nodded, this was more like the Lady Azonia she knew of.

"What about our resources?" Azonia asked then, "how much Protoculture do we have left?"

The techs hurried to make the calculations.

"We don't have enough to fold, my Lady and only enough to travel to the eighth planet of this system."

Azonia paused thoughtfully, gnawing on one of her knuckles.

"We definitely won't be leaving this planet any time soon," she finally announced. "We'll need to see what Khyron has to say."

Yiata nodded, but she noticed how her Commander spoke Lord Khyron's name.

Azonia had never spoken it like that before.

* * *

"Hey, come on, I'm not hurt!"

Rick's protests fell on deaf ears, the medics who had arrived to help Edwards had taken one look at him and the remains of Vermillion One and had insisted on putting him on a stretcher.

"Look buddy, the number of times you fly boys have said that only to drop dead…" the medic shook his head and went so far as to strap him down.

"But –"

"I'd stop struggling if I were you, Little Brother, they could gag you next."

Rick glared at Roy as he pulled off his helmet and stuck it under his arm.

"You know, you could be hurt as much as I could be, why don't you volunteer to get on a stretcher?"

"I've been cleared," Roy smirked. "But hey, it won't be so bad, you'll get a free ride and probably some extra time off."

"Oh yeah, this is just how I wanted to spend it too." Rick groaned, but finally gave up and let the medic roll the stretcher over to a nearby ambulance.

Rick had a feeling that if Roy had been in his place though, he wouldn't have gone quietly, especially when the medic started shining a flash light in his eyes to test his pupil reaction and pressing down on his ribs to check for any broken ones.

"Anything hurt?" The medic asked him.

"Well, if it didn't before it sure does now," Rick replied, sarcastically. "Did you have to press so hard?"

"Don't be such a baby," the medic chided, then smiled. "You seem to be OK, most likely all you need is a couple of x-rays and you'll be free to go."

_Thanks for small favours_, Rick thought and rolled his eyes.

The medic though, did undo the straps of the stretchers so Rick was at least able to move. He rubbed his ribs were the medic had pressed down on them.

Once the soreness subsided, Rick thought about Lisa. He wondered how she was going…having lost her father, he then thought about Minmei, who had just lost her parents.

In fact he thought about everyone who had lost someone and for once in his life he was relieved that he had had the chance to say goodbye to Pop before he died. He hadn't thought so at the time of course, especially considering how young his father had been…not even sixty. And then there had been Roy's absence from the funeral…After Pop had adopted him when he was twelve years old, and had spent a lot of time looking after him before that when Rick thought about it, taught him to fly…Roy hadn't even bothered to show up.

Rick had since found out that Roy had done everything he could to get to the funeral and had even ended up in the Brig trying to do so. The military didn't always take into account friends and family, especially in the midst of something they considered important.

Rick snapped out of his musings when the ambulance came to a stop, he was surprised at how quickly it had time had passed.

"Can I at least walk in there?" he asked the medic, he **really** didn't want to be wheeled in there when he knew perfectly well he was fine…it seemed like an insult to those who really **were** injured.

"Geeze, you don't quit, huh?" The medic shook his head. "Well, it's not like you're hooked up to anything, so why not, but don't get any ideas to start running. I was star of my high school track team."

"No, sir," Rick replied, wryly. _As if I'd consider making a break for it, I still feel winded from where you nearly crushed in my ribs_. He considered saying aloud, but thought better of it.

The medic opened the back doors of the ambulance and Rick climbed out, looking up at Macross City Hospital, which was beginning to feel like a second home to him now.

* * *

Max had joined Miriya, who was waiting to see what the Robotech Scientists had to say about Seloy Deparra.

A doctor had also been called to the Bay, but he hadn't yet looked at Seloy since she was still trapped inside her Power Armour.

Miriya seemed nervous, chewing on the edge her thumb, watching as the scientists on cranes cut at the Zentraedi mecha.

"This is taking a very long time," she finally said, turning to look at him briefly.

"I guess it's made of tough stuff," Max ventured, he'd never seen the type of saws the scientists were using before, whatever they were made of, the metal shone a strange blue colour as it slowly inched its way through the Power Armour.

"Seloy!" Miriya called and then spoke in Zentraedi, Seloy responded in kind.

"She does not think she is badly hurt, at least," Miriya told him, "but you cannot really tell. I have known many soldiers who have returned from battle claiming to feel fine, but upon landing cannot move from their mecha, or if they can have collasped shortly afterwards and died."

Max nodded and patted her shoulder. He had heard of such cases himself, such things weren't limited to Zentraedi.

Max looked over his shoulder and wondered what Commander Fokker and Rick were up to…had they found anyone? Had they returned yet? But no matter how much Max wanted to know, he certainly couldn't abandoned Miriya now.

A hatch at the far end of the bay slid open and Dr. Lang hurried in, his large black eyes focused on Seloy in her mecha.

"Dr. Lang," Max called out to him, hoping that he would have some words of comfort to offer Miriya.

Lang looked startled for a moment, but spotting Max and Miriya nodded and hurried over to them.

"Lieutenant Sterling, Ensign Parina," he greeted them.

Max saluted in response, Miriya did as well, but distractedly. "Do you have any idea how long it will take to get Seloy free?"

"Zose are the toughest saws we haff," Lang replied, "powered by Protoculture. But zen I haff never seen metal like that before…ve are making progress, though it shouldn't take more zan half an hour."

Max was pretty sure that that would seem like an eternity for his wife, he squeezed her shoulder again.

"We are much smaller than she is," Miriya spoke up, "can't the doctor climb inside and check to make sure she is not bleeding to death?"

"Vell…ve haven't been able to clearly access ze mecha yet…ve could break through the viewport…"

"Why don't you then?" Miriya asked, her voice sharp. "It is not as if that Quaedluun-Rau will ever fly again, anyway."

"Ve didn't vant to surprise her," Lang replied. "Smashing into her mecha seemed somevhat…foolhardy."

"I will tell her that you are about to do so, she will put up no resistence," Miriya assured him, her green eyes decisive.

After a moment, Lang agreed to this – _Smart man,_ Max thought – and hurried to relay the orders to the scientists while Miriya spoke to Seloy telling her what was about to happen.

A few minutes later there was the sound of breaking glass and the doctor was been deposited in the hole where the viewport had once been.

Even from a hundred feet away, Max could tell the doctor was nervous and he couldn't blame him, he'd seen macronised Zentraedi himself and it was pretty unsettling.

Some minutes later, the doctor emerged, he seemed slightly bloody, but considering the fact he'd been looking at a fifty foot tall alien, it didn't seem like very much blood.

"She has a few abrasions, cuts, possibly cracked ribs," the doctor reported to Lang. "Nothing life threatening however. She will need to be laid flat once she's released from the mecha though."

Lang took in the size of the bay. "Ve'll have no trouble there, although providing a soft surface for her to lie on vill require some more thought."

Miriya frowned. "Zentraedi are built far stronger then you humans, a soft surface will not be necessary."

"Prehaps not, but ze doctor advises it anyway," Lang said in a smooth voice.

Miriya shrugged in an annoyed manner, but didn't protest when Lang went to see what he could do about getting a fifty foot long mattress. Max certainly didn't envy him.

* * *

"You're not the kind of pilot who rushes back are you Fokker?" Claudia put her hands on her hips.

"I'm so happy you survived too," Roy replied sardonically.

Claudia dropped her arms. "OK, OK, I get it, not the best greeting, but give me a break, I was worried about you."

Roy came over and put an arm around her shoulder, drawing her close. "I know, but you know Rick, I was sure he was floating around out there and I couldn't just leave him."

"I suppose," Claudia conceded.

"Speaking of leaving, how'd you get off the Bridge right in the middle of this mop-up operation?"

Claudia smiled serectively. "Let's just say the Captain owed me a favour."

Roy cocked an eyebrow. "Should I be worried? I've heard that Gloval was quite the lady killer in his day."

Claudia made as if to elbow him in the ribs and he quickly stepped to the side. "For your information all I did was distract Sammie and let him take a quick puff on his pipe."

"Ah, all innocent then," Roy breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief and wrapped his arms around her again.

"Which is more than I can say for **you**," Claudia wagged a finger at him, but any more objections she had were cut off by his kiss.

"Well," she breathed when they broke apart. "It's a shame Ambassador Exedore didn't decided to broadcast a kiss like **that** for the Grand Fleet, they would have self-destructed on their own!"

"Damn, why does the genius only come out when the crisis has passed?" Roy made a show of slapping his forehead in exasperation.

"Are you suggesting that I'm not a genius **all** the time, Fokker? I'd watch it if I was you."

"Yes, ma'am." Roy made a show of saluting.

"Besides, I can't stick around, actually, I've only been given an hour long respite from the Bridge," she pulled away and taking his his puppy dog look folder her arms. "I'm sure **you're** wanted somewhere too, flyboy."

"I was considering going AWOL actually," Roy leaned close to whisper. "I mean you and I have put in the hard yards don't you think?"

"Oh I do, but we can't abandon our posts…**yet**. Not if we want to speak to our friends ever again."

Roy waved a hand dismissively. "Friends? Who needs 'em."

Claudia shook her head. "We all do, I'll see ya in a few hours," she waved and turned to make her way back to the Bridge.

Roy caught her arm however and pulled her back. "OK, OK…but just one thing…" he looked at her seriously. "Are you all right, I mean…about Vince and all?"

Claudia swallowed with difficulty. For a moment she understood why Lisa liked to hide behind a wall, just thinking about her brother…

But then, knowing Roy cared made the pain just a little bit easier to handle and she managed a small smile.

"Not really, I mean, how can you be all right about your brother's death," she told him. "But, I'm not the only one who's lost someone, we can only move on…that's what Vince would want."

Roy nodded and kissed her one more time, gently on the cheek.

"See you in a few hours then."


	48. Chapter 48

"_And so the war with the Zentraedi ended officially on that day, the 2__nd__ November, 2010. All Souls' Day, fitting not only for all those who perished in that battle, but those who lived."_ A quote from an unknown source during the reconstruction of Macross City.

* * *

Breetai raised his fist to his chest in greeting as Exedore appeared on the comm. screen.

For the first time since the end of the great battle, he was able to talk with his trusted Advisor once more.

"My Lord," Exedore returned the salute. "How are things progressing?"

"We have completed the inventory of surviving soldiers and mecha. Some two hundred battle pods and thirty-nine incos of our Imperial Fleet survived."

He could see Exedore thinking and he turned to speak to someone out of view of the screen, no doubt translating the numbers for them.

"And what of the micronians?" Breetai inquired, slightly surprised that he'd thought to ask.

"All the non-combatants survived the battle, some fifty-four thousand of them. Of their military five thousand came through."

"Hmmm…and were any survivors discovered on the planet, Zentraedi or otherwise?"

"A few reports are coming in, pockets of human survivors, the most that have been found in one area so far however, is ten." Exedore spoke solemnly. "As far Zentraedi go no reports yet."

"Hmmm," Breetai growled bringing a fist to his chin. "We were separated from Lady Azonia's fleet, I have received no contact from her and sensors cannot detect any of her ships here. Her fleet then was either destroyed or crashed on the planet."

"One of the Quadronos was found alive, m'lord," Exedore replied to this. "One Seloy Deparra, she has no information the fate of the other females however."

Breetai nodded. "As for Khyron…" he trailed off for a moment, the fury he felt at mention of that name was almost overwhelming. "He and his group have disappeared from our sensors as well. Rumours abound that his group was detected coming towards the battle in the dying mil of it, but I doubt the truth of that."

Exedore nodded in agreement. "His supplies of Protoculture would be as low as ours, but still enough to get some distance away. We will have to keep an eye out however, since it won't be enough to leave this system, once Khyron realises that he may well return and attempt to procure more."

Breetai's eyes narrowed, he couldn't deny that he wouldn't mind a good excuse to finally rid the universe of Khyron, if he was foolish enough to try anything.

"The micronians are beginning the reconstruction of their base, their 'city', Macross." Exedore then reported.

Breetai raised his eyebrow. "Reconstruction? All ready?"

"They are a quick race and it seems their city is constructed in such a way as to make it easy to move them to a new location."

"I would hardly think the planet is much to look at after the bombardment, however," Breetai pointed out.

Exedore gave a quick nod. "It isn't, but the micronians still feel and affinity to it and don't wish to occupy Zor's Fortress any longer. Beyond that in its current configuration it isn't easily habitable."

"Hmmm," Breetai nodded, not really understanding, Zor's Fortress looked large enough to him, but then Zentraedi did not need the comforts micronians seemed to. He then moved on to another subject. "You will remain down there?"

Exedore looked surprised by the question, after a moment he nodded. "I have no way of returning to your ship, m'lord, so I don't have much choice in the matter."

Breetai knew this of course, but he had a strange…wish to have Exedore back on the bridge, but if it couldn't be done, there was no use dwelling on the fact. Although he did have to wonder where the strange feeling came from…he supposed it all had to do with contact with the micronians.

"I, of course, will remain up here. At least until something can be done about the Protoculture situation. If we landed on the planet, we would not be able to leave it again and I do not think that would be good strategy."

Exedore spoke to someone of screen again and then turned back. "Quite right, m'lord."

"I will have to end the communication here however. A battle such as the one we just went through calls for a debriefing of those troops who survived. I will be in contact with you again within the lon."

"Yes, m'lord!" Exedore brought his fist to his chest in a salute, which Breetai returned in kind.

Then the comm. screen went blank and Breetai made preparations to make a ship-wide announcement, wondering what he was going to say regarding the fact that most of the Zentraedi race was now extinct.

* * *

Jean gripped more tightly to the dashboard as the jeep hit another bump and left the ground for a few seconds before thudding back to earth.

"Thank God for all-terrain tyres," Vince remarked, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Good thing they were included, otherwise I'd never have brought them," Jean told him.

The walk back to the underground parking lot from the base hadn't seemed that long to Jean with Vince at her side. Although in the light of day the complete destruction of Meridian was even starker. It was hard to believe there had ever been a city there at all.

The parking garage however had not collapsed, but it was deserted, as she and Vince had walked from the base, Jean had entertained hopes that perhaps there were other survivors down there…it had been around three in the afternoon when she had left, but doctors kept weird hours….

The place had been as quiet as a tomb, and not a car had moved as far as she could tell.

She and Vince hadn't been able to find her car keys, but Vince had picked up a thing or two as an engineer, one of which was how to hotwire a car.

And now they were heading north across what was a relatively smooth surface, the remnants of a highway, but still every now and then they went over a rock or a rut in the ground and Jean feared the jeep would flip.

"Where are we going, Vince?" She finally thought to ask.

"The biggest underground UEDC base is in Alaska…somewhere," Vince told her, pausing as the jeep dipped. "If any group has survived it'll be them…and considering all the lies they've sprouted…" he trailed off.

Jean looked at him, his jaw was set and not just because of the roughness of the terrain, suddenly she knew what he was thinking.

"The SDF-1…you…you think it mightn't have been destroyed after all?"

Vince nodded curtly. "Think about it, look around…only alien technology could have done this. Remember the conspiracy theories? That the SDF-1 took off to fight alien invaders? It sounded ridiculous, but it doesn't seem like that anymore."

"It doesn't," Jean agreed, "but Vince…" she hated to dash his hopes, "if the aliens could do this to Earth, surely they could have destroyed the SDF-1, too."

Vince sighed. "You're probably right…but maybe…just maybe Claudia's still out there."

Jean didn't have the heart to point out how miniscule that possibility was. Instead she looked out the window, looking for any signs of life in the flatness that was all around them. "Do you think we'll run into anyone out here?"

Vince looked around briefly himself. "I don't know…but then we survived."

"Definitely a miracle," she smiled at him, although she had to wonder, if they really were the last people on Earth, on an Earth like this, how exactly they were supposed to survive. She always kept a two litre bottle of water in her jeep and they had brought along all the emergency rations and water they could find from the Base. Even so, that would only keep them going for a couple of months, then what? She shuddered at the thought of a slow, painful death from starvation. She had studied the effects of malnutrition in medical school and it had been the most horrendous way to die.

She didn't say any of this to Vince however. He seemed confident that people and animals were out there somewhere and perhaps he was right…perhaps there was even a chance…

"What's that?"

Vince's sudden question shook her from her thoughts.

"What's what?"

Vince was slowing down the car, they hadn't been going very fast, and soon they came to a stop.

"That noise, it sounds like a rumble?"

Jean frowned and pricked her ears, but she couldn't hear anything.

"There was definitely a rumbling sound," Vince said with certainty.

Jean gulped…perhaps the alien weapons had not completed their destruction, maybe they were also capable of causing earthquakes.

At that moment though, she heard a noise…a rumbling…but not one from the earth. It seemed to be coming…

"It sounds like a plane," Vince declared, and unbuckling his seat belt, he opened the door of the jeep and climbed out, his head tilted up towards the sky.

Jean followed suit, although she couldn't imagine what was up there…unless…

"Do you think the aliens –" she began, wondering if this would be the last moments of her life…at least she had Vince.

"That's no alien," Vince shook his head as a shape came into view on the horizon. "Unless they just happen to have mecha just like the Veritechs."

Jean squinted. "It's a Veritech? Are you sure, how can you tell from here?"

"Believe me, I know one of those when I see one." Vince promised, he looked over at her and she met his eyes. He smiled at her reassuringly. "We don't even need a flare gun, the sensors on that thing will pick us up… in fact it might have all ready."

Jean hurried around the front of the jeep to stand next to Vince, not quite as confident as he was in the identity of the shape coming towards them.

She shouldn't have doubted him though, as the shape came closer she saw the wings, the tail…there had been a lot of press about the Veritechs after the SDF-1's disappearance and she knew that this was one of them.

And it was steadily decreasing its' speed, as if it knew they were there and when it was only a few miles away, it suddenly changed.

Her eyes widening, Jean watched as the jet engine modules swung down like legs and two other modules moved out like arms.

"Yep, Guardian Mode," Vince explained, which didn't help much, since Jean had no idea what he was talking about.

The Veritech/Guardian descended lower and lower to the ground, and Jean felt the heat from the thrusters and it came to a stop just metres away.

"This is Corporal Mel Sinclair," the pilot's voice came over a loudspeaker. "Green Squadron station aboard the SDF-1, please identify yourselves."

"The SDF-1!" Vince turned to her, taker her hands. "Jean, they're alive, I **knew** it!"

And for the first time in hours Jean smiled. _A miracle!_

_

* * *

  
_

Rico, Konda, Bron and the rest of the defecting Zentraedi had been nervous about leaving the SDF-1.

The fact that they were one of the last shelters to be evacuated was proof that humans, and presumably Zentraedi could survive out there, but the fact that none of them had ever been on a planet before gave them pause.

But Zentraedi were no cowards, so after a few mil they had all continued on forward out into the 'atmosphere' as it was called.

Rico hadn't realised he'd been holding his breath until his chest began to hurt, he took an experimental one and was surprised at how crisp it was. Completely different to the air on Zentraedi ships and the SDF-1.

The ground beneath his feet felt strange, it was solid, but at the same time it gave a little, it was a very odd sensation after a life of metal flooring.

"Wow," Benaro took in a deep breath. "It's huge out here."

It was, for once there was no ceiling above and no walls, the expanse was endless.

"I wonder what it looked like before," Karita ventured, his eyes wide. "When it had 'trees' and 'animals'."

The Zentraedi fell silent, not really wanting to think too much about how members of their own race had reduced the micronian planet to its current state.

"It can have those things again," Konda said optimistically. "Well, at least the 'trees', they've got those on the SDF-1."

Rico nodded, but he wondered what he and the rest could look forward to, now that the full devastation of the battle was revealed. _Maybe they'll…what's the expression? – 'run us out of town on a rail'?_

He didn't want to think about that though, knowing there was no way he and his fellow Zentraedi could survive out there.

Suddenly a micronian not far away shouted through a megaphone. "OK, everyone! Get a move on, keep with your shelter group! We'll be setting up over in that direction," he gestured, "just out of the crater! Let's get to it now."

Rico and the rest followed the Shelter co-ordinator across the crater, up and over the rim where nearly all of Macross City's civilians were, talking and looking around.

Rico looked back over his shoulder at the SDF-1, where a large number of vehicles were bringing out sheets of metal that he recognised as once being the buildings of the city inside.

"They're really gonna set up out here," Mardul looked about, the 'sky' above was a steely gray, there was something a little unsettling about it.

"I guess they're not used to living on ships," Bron commented with a shrug. "Not like us."

As a group the Zentraedi moved about, wondering how to volunteer to help with the reconstruction.

Looking about, Rico spotted two familiar faces, Max and Lena Lynn, 'aunt' and 'uncle' of Minmei.

Waving, Rico called out their names.

The two looked over and seeing them, waved back and came over.

"How are you all?" Lena greeted them, warmly, her smile very reminiscent of Minmei's, which made most of the Zentraedi blush and be at a loss for words.

"We're fine," Rico spoke for them. "Where is Minmei?"

Max frowned. "We don't know actually, probably still aboard the ship, I hope she's all right, apparently she would have been able to see the battle where she was."

"I'm sure she's fine," Rico said with certainty.

"Yeah," Bron added, "after all she's Minmei!"

The rest of the Zentraedi nodded in agreement, nothing could hurt Minmei that was one thing they were sure of, no matter what.

Max and Lena smiled, but they didn't seem as sure as the Zentraedi did.

* * *

Claudia finished giving Captain Gloval the latest report on the progress of the relocation of Macross City. It was hard to believe that only eight hours or so had passed, all ready the fifty-four thousand remaining civilians had been off-loaded and were now milling about, beyond the crater the SDF-1 was resting in. Quite a few were working with the engineers and Claudia almost thought she could spot Mayor Luan in the centre of it all as he usually was.

"SDF-1, come in please."

Claudia looked over at Lisa, the incoming transmission hadn't been delivered in the standard manner. It didn't sound like any of the pilots either, not that Claudia could say she knew what every one of them sounded like…at the same time, there was something familiar about the voice…

Lisa looked at her just as puzzled, then turned back to her console. "This SDF-1, please identify yourself,"

What the voice said next had Claudia out from behind her console.

"This is Sergeant Vince Grant, NAS Meridian, I'm calling from Corporal Mel Sinclair's –"

"Vince!" It couldn't be! She had to be dreaming! Rushing over to Lisa's console, she almost knocked her best friend off her feet. "Vince, is that you?"

She didn't need to ask the question, looking down at the comm. screen she could see it was him.

He gave a wave. "Hey, sis!"

"Vince! I can't believe it! How – how did you survive?"

"I could ask you the same thing…we were told the SDF-1 was lost with all hands onboard."

"A cover-up." Captain Gloval's voice startled Claudia and she looked over her shoulder, realising that he was standing right behind her, and that the Bridge Bunnies were looking her way too.

"Obviously," Vince was saying. "I can't believe they'd stoop so low."

"But what about you, Vince," Claudia decided to ignore the fact she was breaking protocol. "How did you get through it? Is the NAS intact?"

Vince frowned and shook his head. "No, the bit of it that was underground is, but I think I was the only one down there when…whatever it was hit the planet. I couldn't find anyone else down there."

"That's terrible," Claudia shook her head, her poor brother, he had lost everyone he was working with… _And what about Jean? _She thought of his girlfriend. _Does he realise that she's probably gone too?_

"I know, Jean's hospital's gone too," Vince said next, and Claudia looked for signs of tears, but Vince seemed solemn, perhaps in shock?

"I'm sorry about Jean," Claudia said, deciding not to skirt the issue.

"What do you mean?" Vince looked puzzled. "She's right here."

"What?"

"She survived, it's a miracle, but she did, isn't that right Jean?"

A purple haired young woman appeared on the comm. screen, Claudia recognised her immediately (it was hard not to with that dye job).

"Jean, are you OK?" Claudia asked, thinking she looked a little shell-shocked, although, who could blame her.

"I'm fine, Claudia," Jean managed a small smile. "I can't believe you're alive."

"Same here!"

At that point a third face squeezed in. "Ah, I'd hate to break this up, but I need to fly further recon…there could be more people out there." Corporal Sinclair reminded them.

Lisa leaned over. "Give us your current co-ordinates, Corporal Sinclair and we'll send a shuttle as soon as possible."

Sinclair relayed the co-ordinates, but Claudia didn't want to break the connection.

Vince reassured her. "We've got water and food here, so if you take a while we'll be OK, but don't drag your feet, huh?"

"I'll make sure they don't," Claudia promised him.

"See ya, sis," Vince told her.

"Looking forward to it," she spoke lightly, but was reluctant to return to her console, she had her duty.

She felt a tear roll down her cheek and wiped it away. Vince was alive! _It's as if Ma and Pa are looking down on us both._

_

* * *

  
_

"We have thirty battle pods and your Officer's Pod remaining. Three hundred infantry rifles and ninety-seven missile rounds for our one remaining heavy canon. And we have about nine hundred survivors from our group."

"Hmm," Khyron murmured, he was sitting in his command chair, resting his chin in his hand as Grel made his report. "And our ships?" He finally asked.

"We lost one of our Destroyers in the aftermath and of the other two, there's enough Protoculture to relaunch them, if we siphoned their Protoculture onto our ship we could possibly have enough to launch, but we wouldn't be able to leave the atmosphere."

Khyron gave an annoyed grunt. _Damn those micronians…_ he thought, with a bubbling anger. _I will show them, though._ He got to his feet. "We'll deal with that problem later, Grel. We will need to plan before making any move anyway."

He could see from the look on Grel's face that he didn't have a clue. _Has he always been such an idiot?_

It seemed likely, in fact, Khyron was seeing he was surrounded by stupidity. But…perhaps there was hope…

"I want to speak with Lady Azonia," he announced.

"Very well," Grel turned to command the techs to do so, but Khyron stopped him.

"Why waste our meagre resources, Grel?" He asked, the idea coming to him. A very…exciting idea. "Lady Azonia' ship is not too far and we're not weaklings who can't survive out there."

Grel furrowed his brow, obviously not understanding.

Khyron sneered at him. "I am going to see Lady Azonia **personally**, Grel."

Grel's eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. Khyron knew what he was thinking _Surely the Commander wouldn't break that law, it was perhaps the most important one of all._

But there were new rules now, he and his group and Azonia and her forces were the only loyal Zentraedi left. They would have to work together to defeat the micronians and they would have to conserve Protoculture, it was the intelligent thing to do.

Turning to leave the Bridge, he looked at Grel. "Will you be coming? You **are** my strategist."

Grel looked extremely nervous, perhaps a little ill, but he knew better than to disobey.

"O-of course, my lord."

With that the two left the bridge to change into their armour and make the short trip from Khyron's ship to Azonia's.

* * *

"To the Earth!" Roy raised his glass of beer.

"To the Earth," Rick echoed, but didn't follow Roy's lead of chugging down half his glass.

Roy put his down and shook his head. "Come on, Little Brother, cheer up a bit, huh?"

"Sorry," Rick shrugged, took a small sip of his beer, made a face and put it back down.

"Well, don't apologise, that only makes it worse."

Rick rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'm **not** sorry."

"All right, as Claudia would say, spill it, what's got you down?" Roy demanded, leaning over so he could see Rick's face.

"Nothing," Rick swore, but wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Little Brother, you're the worst liar in the world," Roy shook his head again. "Come on, tell Dr. Roy, I'm sworn to secrecy."

Rick ran a hand through his hair making it even messier than usual and finally met Roy's eyes.

"It's Minmei."

_When isn't it?_ Roy almost said, but thought better of it.

"I said goodbye to her, before the battle…since I wasn't sure I'd be coming back…I told her I loved her."

"Yeah," Roy replied, not knowing what else to say.

"And then there was the bombardment…" Rick continued, not seeming to notice Roy had said anything. "And after that I got the idea for using her song and then…well…she said she'd be singing for me most of all. And we kissed…but I haven't seen her since."

Roy looked out the view port of the mess, where the few lights of buildings all ready reconstructed were shining.

"That's not really a surprise is it? I mean, we're all busy here, she's probably out there offering support to the civilians and we're in here looking for survivors and Zentraedi."

"But do you think it's possible, Roy, after everything, after **Kyle**, that she could love me."

Roy scratched his head. Quite honestly he had no idea what to say to his Little Brother, _And I always thought my relationship with Claudia had been complicated!_ He thought, but he had nothing on Rick. _One minute he's going on about Lisa, the next it's Minmei._

And it wasn't as if the two had anything in common, they had complete different looks and personalities. _If Rick's really got the hots for both, I don't know __**what**__ to tell him._

He realised Rick was looking at him, waiting for his response.

"I can't say, I'm not Minmei am I?" He said with a shrug.

Rick looked crushed.

"But I'd assume if she kissed you and said that, that she **does** care, but really all you can do is ask her."

"You know before you told me I needed to tell her, so I did, isn't **she** supposed to make a move sometime?"

"Relationships don't have a rulebook, you know. Sure, in books, movies, whatever, they usually play out like that, but sometimes whoever you're interested in is too shy or maybe confused to make the first move, or the second, so you have to do it." Roy took another swig of beer. "Of course, if they're really not interested, don't push it unless **you're** interested in a restraining order."

Rick managed a small smile. "Well, I don't think I'm in danger of **that**, not from her at least…what about Kyle. He'll probably be dogging her every move now, how can I possibly get Minmei alone?"

"Kyle sounds like he has some issues," Roy deadpanned.

"Duh," Rick rolled his eyes.

"I guess all you can do is send Minmei a message or something, if she cares she'll come see you, if not…"

"Yeah…" Rick looked as if he heard his dog died at that.

Roy decided to change the subject. "What about Lisa?"

Rick jumped on his stool as if he'd been given a shock. "What? What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, whoa, defensive aren't you?" Roy held up his hands.

"Well, you ask about her while I'm talking about Minmei…what else could you be implying?"

"I'm not implying anything, I'm just wondering, you know. You like Lisa, I was just wondering if you'd spoken to her since the battle ended."

Rick shook his head. "Like I'd have a chance too, I bet she's on duty right now."

"Well, I'm sure she is, but they can't keep her going twenty-four hours a day, you know. You can find out when she gets off…"

Rick sighed. "You think she'd want to talk to me right after her father's died?"

"Why not? You can sympathise."

"Pop died of a brain tumour, Roy, he didn't get killed by aliens."

"So? Death is death."

"Well," Rick looked as if he was thinking seriously about it.

Getting to his feet, Roy clapped a hand on Rick's shoulder. "Come on, let's hack into a computer and find out when Commander Hayes's shift ends…and while I'm at it I can find out when I'll see the lovely Mrs. Fokker again."


	49. Chapter 49

"_These rules we lay down to you, the Greatest Warriors of the galaxy are for your own survival. Do not disregard them, do not err from them. If you should, your race is surely doomed."_ From the Law Books of the Zentraedi written by the Modomilian

* * *

Azonia was sitting in her command chair her hands tented under her chin, her eyes thoughtful.

"Lady Azonia," one of the techs called from the communications board, "sensors indicate two small signatures heading for the loading bay of our ship."

Azonia sat up straight in surprise. "What?"

"They're not mecha, my Lady," the tech continued, looking closely at her screen. "They appear to be Zentraedi sized…"

Azonia furrowed her brow, wondering what could possibly be going on out there. Before she had a chance to demand an explanation, though, another tech spoke up.

"We're receiving a message from the Loading Bay…they've identified two Zentraedi, they appear to be male."

"Male? Why are male Zentraedi at our ship, Nala?" Azonia demanded.

Nala frowned, speaking into her console for a moment, then turned to look up at Azonia.

"It's Lord Khyron, my Lady, he is requesting permission to come aboard!"

Azonia heard Yiata gasp and turned to look over at her aide, who was wide-eyed.

"Male Zentraedi aboard our ship?" She spluttered. "My Lady, impossible! The Masters…" she trailed off.

Azonia frowned. She knew the laws as well as her aide did, but she wondered if there was any need to keep them anymore. After all, what sway did the Master have over them now? They were millions of light years away and the Zentraedi would not be leaving the micronian planet any time soon.

_No, it's time we made the rules for ourselves,_ she decided, solemnly.

"Allow them to come aboard," she announced.

There were gasps of shock from Yiata and the techs.

"M-my Lady?" Nala stared up at her as if she had gone insane.

"Lord Khyron and I are now allies," Azonia declared, lifting her chin and daring any of them to continue objecting. "A meeting between us are necessary and why waste Protoculture over the comm. screen when they are only hundreds of feet away."

The techs continue to stare for a moment, but Azonia did not waiver and Nala turned back to her screen to relay her orders.

"Now, Yiata, let us go and meet our new allies," Azonia called to her aide, sweeping her cloak over one shoulder. The idea of being in the same room as a male was foreign and disturbing, but a small part of her was…expectant… wondering what it would be like.

From the look on her face, Azonia could tell Yiata didn't share that feeling, but that was too bad for her, she had been given an order.

Lowering her head, Yiata mumbled. "Yes, My Lady."

With that, Azonia marched from the Bridge towards the Loading Bay.

* * *

Lisa heaved a sigh, brushing back her thick fringe of hair and running a hand across her eyes, it had been a long day, over twelve hours, she had actually been willing to work longer, but the Captain had been stern in telling her to get some sleep and she had to agree with him.

Claudia and the Bridge Bunnies had left as soon as their duty time ended, while Lisa had gone to a view port to look out at the rain pouring down, the thunder rolling through the clouds and every so often lightning lighting up the sky.

Dr. Lang was of the opinion that the rain would probably continue for quite a while, which would make the reconstruction of Macross City difficult if not impossible. The citizens hadn't been too happy about it, but they had all been herded back into the SDF-1, but at least they'd be able to sleep in beds this time. Over the next few days, the engineers were going to rearrange things so that even if the gravity failed it wouldn't be any problem, though space would be extremely limited.

As the elevator doors opened on the corridor that lead to the Base and Lisa stepped out she was surprised to see someone waiting in the hall.

Not just anyone…it was Rick!

"There you are," he greeted her, "I was starting to worry!"

She gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the comp-…er that is Roy said you got off duty a half hour ago, I came to see how you're going."

"Oh," Lisa felt a blush rising in her cheeks and ducked her head. "Sorry, I was just…looking out the view port."

"No need to apologise," Rick reassured her. "You **are** OK, right?"

Fighting back the blush, Lisa looked up and managed a smile. "As well as anyone else on the ship."

"Have you had dinner or anything?" Rick asked.

Lisa was surprised by the question. "Uh…no, I haven't…have you?"

"Nah, the mess is still serving, though," Rick told her, "do you…uh… want to come along?"

For a moment Lisa wanted to laugh, she bet they both looked ridiculous, but she was also touched that Rick had come to see how she was.

"Sure, why not, you're all right company, Hunter," she grinned at him, slyly.

Rick blinked in surprise. "Er…thanks, I think…"

Giving a laugh, and surprising herself at her boldness in doing so, she reached out she took his arm and started towards the mess.

* * *

"You haven't interviewed him, I suppose?"

Dr. Hassen shook his head. "He lost a lot of blood when we brought him in, and there was definitely a chance of infection in the eye socket, so we saw to that as soon as possible."

Captain Gloval gave a nod, stroking his moustache thoughtfully. "Hmmm…"

"I have to say I was stunned when he was brought in," Dr. Hassen commented. "Who would have thought anyone would survive at Alaska Base."

"Hmpf," Gloval grunted. "According to Commander Fokker, Edwards admitted to abandoning his post."

Dr. Hassen raised an eyebrow at the Captain's tone. "Have you meet Colonel Edwards before?"

"Indeed I have, he was among the team that first investigated the SDF-1 when it crashed. He was a representive of the military group he was currently with at the time."

"I take it that the Colonel isn't a loyal man?"

"He wouldn't know the meaning of the term, Doctor," Gloval replied, shaking his head.

"Well, he won't really be in any fit shape to answer questions for a couple of days or so," Hassen informed him. "So, we won't be able to hear his story for a while yet."

"No great loss, I'm sure, no doubt it will be self-serving and not bearing much semblance to the truth." Gloval paused for a moment, then changed the subject. "What of our Veritech and Destroid pilots?"

"All have been examined, there were a few serious injuries to a seven Destroid pilots, a number of suspected concussions among a few of the Veritech pilots. None of them are in critical condition, however. The mortality rate of the battle was around forty percent for Veritech pilots and fifty percent for Destroid pilots, extraordinarily low all things considered."

The Captain shook his head. "That won't be much comfort to those who have lost loved ones."

Hassen had to agree.

"And survivors found on Earth?" Gloval moved the conversation on.

"There's not many…those who have survived however, are mostly unhurt. It seems the Zentraedi Bombardment destructive power was limited to two or three metres below the surface. All of those who have survived so far were underground for one reason or another."

"Hmm…"

"As for numbers, two hundred so far."

Gloval shook his head. "Bohze moi," was all he said.

Hassen had to agree, considering the population of the US just a day ago, to have only two hundred survivors…

"Further searches will need to be done," Hassen spoke up with some hope, "there's no telling how many might still be out there, hiding. I have to say if I'd been on Earth when all this happened I wouldn't be walking outside any time soon."

Gloval gave a nod. "We also need to send search parties further out, who knows how many survivors are in the rest of the world. We need to offer food and supplies, or at least help locate food and supply stocks that may have survived the bombardment."

"There are a number of underground military facilities," Hassen agreed, "they probably came through this intact."

Gloval agreed. "I think I'll allow our pilots a few hours rest at least, though."

"They'll definitely need it. And if you don't mind me saying so, you do too, Captain."

Gloval gave a weary smile. "I have to meet with Dr. Lang, but rest assured Doctor, once that's done I'll be getting some well needed rest."

* * *

"This place is amazing," Jean's eyes were wide as she took everything in.

Vince had to agree, while it was true that he had been stationed on Macross Island, he had never actually been inside the SDF-1, it had basically been off-limits for anyone not above the rank of Lieutenant.

Jean, of course, had never actually seen the ship.

Then there was the fact it had transformed since he'd seen it, it was humanoid in its shape now, which was rather unsettling.

It had been some hours until a shuttle had arrived to pick Jean and him up and aside from the two pilots there had been only fifty others aboard. The only survivors found in the Deep South…at least for now.

It had been a short flight to where the SDF-1 was located, but on the way Vince and Jean had heard various stories from the fifty about how they had survived. All of them had been underground, mostly in parking stations at the time of bombardment.

"If that's the only way to survive this then no wonder there's not many who got through," Jean had said quietly. "The water table's so high there's hardly any underground complexes."

Vince felt cold just thinking about it…

On the SDF-1, however, all that seemed part of another world, another life, especially as they and the fifty others were led from the landing hanger into the main hold of the ship.

Craning his neck, Vince looked up…and up…and up, the top of the Battle fortress almost a mile above couldn't be seen. And what looked to be a city took up most of the hold, but the buildings were arranged in crazy angles.

"The artificial gravity in this place must be something," Vince muttered.

One of the pilots heard him and looked over his shoulder. "Yeah, this is Battle Configuration, they usually keep the SDF-1 in Cruiser mode, if they can though, it's easier in the city that way," he explained. "Not that that's gonna happen again."

Vince gave a small nod, assuming Cruiser mode was the way the SDF-1 had looked when it first crashed to Earth. He looked around again wondering what it would have been like to have been aboard the fortress, to have known the truth about the aliens – the Zentraedi.

But mostly he was wondering when he'd finally see his sister again, until he did he couldn't quite accept she was alive.

Eventually they arrived at a shelter, which was milling with people, all working together in setting up beds.

"You'll be here until the rain lets up outside," the pilot informed them. "There's enough food and bedding to go around, just jump right in."

The fifty, moving with the sluggishness of shell-shock walked through the doors, Vince and Jean hung back.

"Excuse me," Vince called as the two pilots prepared to leave.

"I'm Sergeant Vince Grant, my sister is part of the Bridge Crew," he began.

"Oh hey, yeah, that's right," the pilot snapped his fingers, as if he now remembered something. "I've been told to take you to see your sister. Sorry about that, slipped my mind."

Vince shrugged. "No biggie."

"And you ma'am?" The pilot turned a questioning look to Jean.

"I'm…uh…" Jean seemed uncertain.

"This is my fiancée Jean," Vince said, putting an arm around her shoulders comfortingly.

"Right," the pilot nodded, he turned and spoke to the second pilot for a second. "Let's get going."

It was quite a walk, and despite his good sense of direction Vince had no idea where he was, he got the feeling that there the artificial gravity on the ship was still functioning and they were probably walking on the 'walls'. He decided not to think too much about it.

Finally, they arrived at a set of large double doors with the RDF Insignia on it.

They slid open and not far beyond Vince saw her, Claudia, his sister, looking the same as ever.

She was not looking his way, but as if sensing he was there, she turned and her eyes widened. "Vince!"

She rushed over and wrapped him up in a big hug. "Vince! I can't believe it! You're alive! You're really here!"

"So are you," Vince replied, tears stinging his eyes as he returned the hug.

Stepping back Claudia looked up at him. "You really thought we had all died?"

"That's what the Government told us," Vince confirmed, anger bubbling up at the memory. He let go of Claudia and clenched his fists. "The sons of bitches! How could they cover up such a big thing? Can you imagine all those people who went to their deaths thinking that at least they were going to join their loved ones?"

Claudia shook her head. "It's pretty disgusting."

It was only then that Vince realised there was someone else in the room.

"Fokker, you still trailing around after my sister?" He called to the man with a sly grin.

Fokker came over and put his arm around Claudia's shoulders. "Hey, there, I'd watch it if I was you, Grant. You're talking to your new brother-in-law."

Vince's eyes widened and he was pretty sure his jaw dropped. "**What**?!"

"Don't look so shocked," Claudia told him with a laugh.

"Yeah, we would have waited, but once I brought it up there was just no stopping her," Fokker drawled.

"Hmpf!" Claudia rolled her eyes and made a show of elbowing Fokker in the ribs. "As you can see, Vince, he's just as modest as ever."

Vince smiled, but then gave Fokker a serious look. "You better be treating her well, if you break her heart, I'll have to break your legs."

Claudia looked stunned, but Fokker just scratched the back of his head. "Haven't we had this conversation before?"

"Yeah," Vince grinned, "I just thought I should remind you."

"Vince, I can take care of myself you know," Claudia chided, hands on hips. "I don't need you to go around threatening my boyfriends."

"It's a brother thing," Vince shrugged, then he looked over his shoulder wondering where Jean was. He caught sight of her lingering by the open doors and smiled. _Always trying not to intrude_. "Give me a sec," he excused himself and went over to her and took her hand, pulling her into the room.

"Jean," Claudia greeted her warmly. "I'm so glad to see you!"

"Same here," Jean returned, "Vince never did give up hope."

"He's a good brother."

"Actually, sis, you're not the only one who's had a change in status…Jean is now my fiancée."

Claudia's eyes widened. "Fiancée? Congratulations!" She gave him another hug and then bestowed one on Jean. "I know you'll make my brother very happy."

"And if she doesn't, you'll kick her ass?" Fokker asked, with a wink.

Claudia gave him a look.

"What?" Fokker made a show of looking innocent.

Shaking her head, Claudia took Vince's arm and Jean's arm. "You two must be starving, let's go to mess and catch up on things, hmm?"

"Don't let the name put you off," Fokker told Jean reassuringly. "The food's only in **slight** disarray. Better then you'll get at a hospital at any rate."

* * *

Sammie, Vanessa and Kim were rather tired, but the three had decided to seek out Rico, Konda and Bron, to make sure they were all right after everything that had happened.

It had taken a bit of work, but Vanessa had found out which shelter they'd been assigned too. With that information in hand, the Bridge Bunnies had headed through a labyrinth of corridors to their destination.

The large hall, though, was extremely full and it took a good five minutes of looking until Sammie spotted Rico's pale skin and unruly hair. "Rico!" Sammie called, waving her arm.

She was rewarded when he turned her way and then tapped Bron and Konda on their shoulders and the three spies hurried to greet them.

"Kim," Konda smiled.

"Hey you," Kim returned the smile and took his arm.

"Vanessa!" Bron surprised them all by taking her hands in his.

"It's so good to see you," Vanessa told him, her cheeks slightly red.

Rico went so far as to kiss her on the cheek. "Sammie! How'd you find us?"

"We have our ways, don't we girls?" Sammie drawled, winking at Vanessa and Kim, who nodded in agreement.

"How have you three been?" Vanessa asked. "There hasn't been any…" she paused for a moment, looking about the crowded hall, "trouble?"

"Nope," Rico shook his head.

"It's pretty amazing actually," Konda agreed, "we thought as Zentraedi we were sure to get in trouble, but nobody's said anything."

"Why should they?" Kim demanded, then frowned. "You and the rest of the defectors don't fight against us anymore."

"Yeah, but we used to," Bron pointed out, "and it's really terrible out there. I can't believe our own race did that to your planet." He shook his head.

"I wouldn't blame 'em if they **did** want to take it out on us," Rico frowned.

"We'll rebuild," Sammie assured them, optimistically, she squeezed Rico's arm. "You'll see."

"But wasn't your planet filled with plants and animals?' Rico pressed the subject. "There's nothing out there anymore, how can you fix all that?"

Sammie turned to her friends, not knowing what to say. All that was true, but she certainly didn't want to make the three dear men feel any worse. _It's not their fault anyway._

She decided to change the subject instead. "Hey, I bet you guys are hungry?"

"Hmmm," the three ex-spies turned to each other. "Sure am!" They said in unison.

"Let's go to the mess then," Sammie suggested.

"Yeah!" Kim and Vanessa agreed, each reaching out to take the arm of Konda and Bron respectively.

With that three couples headed out of the hall and towards the mess.

* * *

Dr. Lang looked up from his calculations to see Captain Gloval, who entered the room, suppressing a yawn.

"Captain," Lang saluted. "If you don't mind me saying, sir, you look dead on your feet."

Gloval gave a small chuckle. "If I had it my way I'd be in my quarters all ready, but a captain's work is never really done, especially not now."

"Hmmm," Lang had to agree. "Vhat duty calls you to me, sir?"

"I need your opinion of the likelihood that rebuilding Macross City outside around the ship will be successful. I imagine that climate patterns have completely changed after the bombardment. Right now it is raining so heavily out there this crater will probably fill with water before it ends. How are we to know that a nuclear winter isn't around the corner?"

Lang rubbed his chin thoughtfully, the Captain brought up a good point. He had been working on some models on the likely weather patterns of Earth, but other things were also demanding his attention, so he hadn't got too far with that.

"Ve have landed rather high up, zat is for sure…had ve landed the SDF-1 closer to the equator…" he trailed off. "But zere is no use complaining about it now. It is true zat zere is a high likelihood ve haff a rough winter in store for us. However, a nuclear winter scenario is only possible vhen there is smoke or soot in ze atmosphere blocking out ze sun. The Zentraedi weaponry did not destroy ze Earth with thermal energy, ze energy given off by Protoculture derived veapons resembles beta radiation."

Gloval blinked a few times and Lang wondered if perhaps in his state it had all gone over the Captain's head.

"Simply put, ze surface structures of earth vere vaporised to ze point vere only hydrogen particles remain. That is vhy it is safe to leave ze SDF-1. The effects it vill have on weather patterns are of course harder to determine, but I don't believe vill be in any great danger of an ice age."

Gloval looked relieved, and ran his hand across his eyes. "Thank heavens for small favours, I suppose?"

"Indeed," Lang nodded in agreement. "The rain vill probably last quite a vhile, but perhaps not. Either way, we know that ze SDF-1 vill float in any case if this crater does fill up."

Gloval nodded again, before suppressing another yawn. "Well... thank you for your report, Doctor. But now if you'll excuse me…"

The two saluted one another and with that the Captain left.

Lang turned back to his computer, thoughtful. In the short time since the last battle, there had not been a lot of time for his main research – the Masters and their connection to the SDF-1.

He had wanted to meet with Advisor Exedore, but there hadn't been any time for that sort of thing in the aftermath. With the rain though, there wasn't much that could be done on the relocation and rebuilding of Macross City and with all but a skeleton crew off duty there wasn't any pressing need to build survival models.

Rolling his chair over to a phone near his computer, Lang picked up the receiver and dialled.

"I vould like to be connected through to Advisor Exedore," he spoke to the operator who picked up. "He's in zee Ambassador Quarters, I believe."

"You mean the alien, right?" The operator asked, brusquely.

Lang suppressed a sigh of annoyance. "Yes, Advisor Exedore," he repeated.

"Just a sec…"

It took a lot longer than that, Lang tapped his fingers impatiently, finally the operator returned.

"Patching you through now, Doc."

"Err…greetings?" Advisor Exedore's tentative voice came over the line.

Lang smiled. "I take it Zentraedi's don't use phones as ve do?"

"Dr. Lang," the advisor replied, sounding surprised, "an intriguing device, you're free to call anyone, regardless of rank."

"Indeed, although it's not a given zey vill respond." Lang remarked with a laugh.

"I see…" Advisor Exedore sounded somewhat bemused.

Lang decided to leave the explanations for a face to face conversation. "Ze reason for my call, Advisor, is I'm hoping to be able to discuss ze Masters and ze nature of Protoculture vith you further. I believe such information is imperative to both our races future survival."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Hmmm…I agree… however, I'm not sure what information I can offer you. The Masters were not ones to divulge much information to us, I have told you basically all I know."

For a moment, Lang's hopes were dashed, but almost immediately he came up with another idea.

"Perhaps zat is so, but zere are many things aboard zis ship I was never able to discover…perhaps with your help, Advisor?"

There was excitement in the Advisor's voice as he responded. "Yes, very good idea, Dr. Lang. We may not have been able to find the Protoculture Matrix, but who's to say there aren't other secrets aboard this vessel? One's that may almost be as important."

"If you are not too tired then, Advisor, perhaps you vould like to come to ze Science Centre and we can begin our search."

"Indeed, Doctor, give me a few…er…that is half an hour." Advisor Exedore tripped over his words.

"Certainly, I shall send details of how to get to ze Science Centre to your room, I vouldn't vant you to get lost in ze labyrinth of corridors."

There was a moment's pause on the other end of the line. "Perhaps getting lost in the fortress would not be such a bad idea, Doctor," the Advisor replied.

Lang thought about it for a second…

"You raise a good point, Advisor…I shall meet you at your quarters zen and ve can begin exploring ze SDF-1."

Hanging up the phone, Lang got to his feet, grabbed his pocket PC and headed out the door.


	50. Chapter 50

"_We have survived the unsurvivable and now the ordinary is extraordinary."_ Quote from the Log of Captain Henry J Gloval

* * *

"Oh my God," Kim hissed, "look over there!"

The three couples had just sat down at a table after getting their food.

"Hmmm?" Vanessa quizzed, titling her head.

Sammie though, was looking about, her eyes sharp for whatever it was her friend saw.

"Oh wow!" She gasped, spotting it. "That's Lisa, with Lieutenant Hunter, **again**!"

"Sssh!" Vanessa hushed her. "You don't have to let the whole universe know."

Sammie stuck her tongue out at her.

"You two," Kim set down her tray and held up her hands for calm. "This is no time to argue, the important thing is, that's the second time we've seen them together in just a few days **and** he's saved her life three times all ready. I bet there's something going on between them."

"Well, of **course** there is," Sammie shook her head, "are you dense?"

"There's no need to be rude, you know," Kim snapped, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm just saying –" Sammie began.

"Why are you talking like that?" Rico asked, breaking in.

"Huh?" Sammie turned to him.

"About people who aren't even with us right now," Rico elaborated, "they can't hear you, can they?"

Vanessa giggled. "I really hope not!"

"It's…uh…" Kim shared a look with her friends, feeling a little embarrassed. "It's called gossiping," she finally admitted.

Rico, Konda and Bron also shared looks. "'Gossiping'?"

"Yeah, you do it too, you know, like when you told all your friends about pressing lips with us," Sammie said, defensively, arching her eyebrow.

At the mention of that the three ex-spies gulped audibly and turned to each other.

"That wasn't really true, though, we…just sort of… made it up! We were just trying to tell them about how micronian society works," Konda spoke up, "but you all ready know how it works, why do **you** do it then?"

"Because it's fun!" Vanessa remarked.

"Oh," Bron put down his fork and scratched his head, "why?"

The Bridge Bunnies looked at each other…it was rather hard to explain.

"Because," Kim stammered, "uh…well…er..."

"Maybe because we **don't** know what's going on exactly," Vanessa mused, "its fun to speculate."

"Hmmm?" Rico looked at Konda and Bron questioningly.

"Anyway," Sammie attempted to steer the conversation away from the 'whys' of gossiping. "What do you think, Vanessa, about Lisa and Lieutenant Hunter I mean?"

Vanessa looked over at the two, who were deep in conversation. "I don't know, you know how Lisa is…I think she likes him, but I bet he doesn't know it."

"Uh," Kim rolled her eyes. "Men **never** know these things, even if you beat them over the head with it."

Rico, Konda and Bron stared at each other.

"You don't have to hit us!" Rico burst out.

"Yeah!" Konda agreed with a hard nod.

"We know you like us," Bron added, "uh…you **do** like us, right?"

The Bridge Bunnies looked at them in surprise for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"Of course we do!" Kim reassured them.

"This isn't about you guys," Sammie added, patting Rico's hand. "If you don't get things you have a good excuse, Lieutenant Hunter is just oblivious."

"Poor Lisa," Vanessa sighed.

"She doesn't look so 'poor' right now though," Kim pointed out, nodding towards the two of them, at that moment Lisa laughed.

"Hmmm," Vanessa leaned forward, hands folded under her chin. "Maybe he's not as dumb as we thought."

"I hope not," Sammie replied and giggled. "If he was, he'd hardly be able to talk!"

* * *

Seloy groaned painfully as she was finally released from her Quaedluun-Rau, which was now sadly nothing more than a twisted heap of scrap.

She was acutely aware that Miriya and her mate had stayed in the hanger bay the entire time, and now Miriya stepped forward.

"Can you move, Seloy?" She called.

Every muscle ached, but slowly Seloy managed to stretch out her arms and place them on either side of the Queadluun-Rau's mangled cockpit and slowly stood to climb out, half way to standing, however, a wave of dizziness passed over her and she fell back into the seat.

"Ugh." She moaned.

She closed her eyes waiting for the dizziness to pass, sweat had formed on her brow when she opened her eyes again.

By that time Miriya had come right up to the mecha and was looking up at her with worried eyes. "You **are** all right, Seloy?" She turned to look at one of the white coated micronians who had come up beside her as well and spoke to him in the micronian language.

"I can get out of my mecha," Seloy assured Miriya, certain that her First Officer was asking him for help, and she had her pride.

Taking a deep breath, she again placed her hands on either side of the cockpit and stood, managing to swing her legs out clear.

They gave way as soon as they touched the ground and she slumped against her mecha in a heap.

"Seloy," Miriya came closer. "The doctor must look at you again, find out exactly where you have been injured."

Seloy turned, her brows furrowed. "No, not a male," she shook her head.

"But you have to," Miriya objected.

"I will be fine," Seloy insisted, trying to move into a more comfortable position, but a sharp ache from her ribs prevented her. "A Zentraedi does not need a 'doctor'," she added.

Miriya shook her head. "But –"

"You have brought me down to the micronian planet, but you cannot have me do this." Seloy spoke strongly, rather sure that the only reason she was able to was because her old commander was now so small.

Miriya backed away, returned to her mate, the two of them speaking together for a few moments.

Miriya returned to her side. "Seloy, would you agree to be looked at by a **female** doctor?"

"A female?" Seloy looked down, blinking hard, her vision seemed hazy.

"Yes," Miriya confirmed. "There are also female doctors."

Seloy considered objecting, but decided to give in…Miriya would keep at her until she did. "Very well, I will…"

She saw the relieved look on Miriya's face as she went and spoke to the male 'doctor', who nodded and headed off.

A few mil later a female returned, dressed in the same style of white coat, she looked rather taken aback at having been asked to look over a full-sized Zentraedi.

Seloy hoped in the end this indignity would be worth it….

* * *

Grel wished he was anywhere else but in the main hanger bay of Lady Azonia's ship.

Neither he nor Khyron had seen any Zentraedi females yet, but Grel had the unsettling feeling it wouldn't be long before they did.

As if in answer to that there was the sound of a hatch sliding open and it was enough to make Grel want to flee back into the howling winds outside.

"Lord Khyron, welcome aboard."

It was a voice he had heard many times, but only ever over a communicator. Now it was in the very room he was in…

"Lady Azonia," Khyron returned his tone so calm that Grel turned to stare at him.

His commander was standing with folded arms, looking up towards the walkway, with a smirk on his lips.

"You know of my aide, Yiata, of course," Lady Azonia continued, her voice made Grel's skin crawl.

Still he looked towards the aide in question, another face he had seen on the comm. screen many times before.

"And this is Grel," Khyron spoke as if it was an afterthought.

The purple eyes of the Commander of the Female Zentraedi rested on Grel for a moment, and he felt the bile rise in his throat before he quickly averted his gaze.

"We finally meet face to face," Lady Azonia continued.

"Indeed," Khyron returned.

Grel couldn't understand how his Commander could be so calm, in fact it was almost like he was…**enjoying** himself.

"So, my Lord, what are we to do about our situation?" Lady Azonia continued.

"A fine question, my Lady," Khyron returned, his smirk widening. "One I'm afraid I don't have the answer to. One thing is certain however, neither your group nor mine will be able to take off for a long time."

Grel managed to sneak a look at the two females in time to see Lady Azonia nod, stroking her chin thoughtfully.

"Quite right… but we certainly **will** escape this planet…eventually."

"Of course we shall," Khyron gave a low chuckle, "and we will make the micronians pay when we do. "

Grel was momentarily distracted from his disgust, making the micronians pay was certainly a fine prospect.

"We have much to discuss then, and the Loading Bay is not quite the place for it," Lady Azonia remarked. "Perhaps you would like to come to the Conference Room?"

Grel heard a sharp intake of breath, but it wasn't him, it was Lady Azonia's aide, Yiata.

Glancing up quickly, Grel saw her staring at her commander, her face pale, looking as if she was about to say something. Lady Azonia gave her a silencing look and the small red haired Zentraedi shut her mouth.

She was the only one who was shocked however, Grel was almost knocked off his feet by what Khyron said next.

"I would be delighted, my Lady Azonia."

With that he headed towards the elevator that would take him to the walkway level. Grel, still rooted to the spot did not follow, which Khyron noticed as he reached the elevator doors.

"Are you just going to stand there?" He snapped, looking over his shoulder.

"Uh…" Grel tried to think of a way to escape the situation…it was one thing to be here in the Loading Bay, with the females high up on that walkway, it was quite another to actually go into the same Conference Room…

But Khyron was giving him that look that brooked no opposition and swallowing the sick feeling in his stomach, Grel nodded and headed towards the elevator.

* * *

Miriya's thoughts were not on food as Maximillian led her to what the humans called 'the mess' (the reason behind the term was one Miriya couldn't figure out. The food served there was presentable enough). Her thoughts were on Seloy and the rest of the Quadronos.

Seloy at least, would probably survive, but it seemed the rest of them, her combatants-in-arms, were no more than memories.

"Would you look at that?" Maximillian exclaimed as they entered through large sliding hatch.

Pulled from her thoughts, Miriya focused on the inside of the room. There were not too many people inside, not that one could have been able to guess from the noise level.

"It's a regular pow-wow," Maximillian continued, with a grin on his face.

She had never heard that term before, she considered the 'comics' she'd seen, where whenever one character hit another there was a sound written out.

"It is quite loud," she agreed. "But I don't see any signs that things will turn violent… "

Maximillian looked at her his eyes wide behind his glasses, then he laughed. "No, no," he shook his head and he put his arm around her shoulders. "I just meant there's a lot going on in here, that's all."

Miriya looked around again, Maximillian was right, she noticed Lieutenant Hunter and Commander Hayes seated together at one table, they seemed to be in a serious discussion. On the other side of the room the 'Skull Leader' and his mate, Lieutenant Grant were sitting with two dark skinned micronians she didn't know.

Also there were the three Zentraedi ex-spies, each sitting beside a female micronian, Miriya recalled that those particular females were often referred to as 'The Bridge Bunnies'. _Yet another example of the micronians' confusing language._ Miriya thought,_ They certainly don't look like' rabbits'._

Then she saw Corporal Hart, one of their squadron, sitting by himself, rather involved in eating a dish Miriya recognised as 'pasta'. As he reached for his glass he noticed them and waved.

Maximillian waved back and taking Miriya's hand led her over to Hart's table.

"Hey, you two," Hart greeted them. "Long time, no see."

"Good food today?" Maximillian asked, as they both sit down.

"Hell yeah," Hart rose his fork, heaped with spaghetti strands to them. "I guess the chefs are as happy as the rest of us." He took another bite, then put the fork down. "Where have you two been anyway?"

"Miriya found one of her old squad mates out there," Maximillian explained, patting her hand. "We brought her in."

Hart's eyes widened. "You mean…a full sized Zentraedi?"

Miriya nodded, wondering if Hart was bothered by this, she hadn't heard him make any anti-Zentraedi comments, but that didn't mean…

"Wow," Hart though, seemed more impressed that anything else. "And the Brass let her aboard? Where is she?"

"A medical team is looking over her," Maximillian told him, "they think she'll be OK."

Hart nodded and took another forkful of pasta. "What'll happen to her after that though? Will she be shrunk to our size?" He looked at Miriya.

"No, Seloy would never submit to that."

"She may not have a choice," Hart replied, offhandedly.

Miriya frowned at his tone. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, the planet's practically a wasteland, there can't be a lot of food out there. I mean we'll probably be able to regrow stuff, but that's gonna take a while, in the meantime we can't really have fifty foot tall Zentraedi running around. They'll need a half field of corn just for dinner!"

Miriya hadn't considered that…she had to agree that Hart made sense, but the idea of Zentraedi being **forced** to undergo micronisation was not a thought she wanted to entertain. She knew if it happened there would be a lot of anger, after all, there were still times when even **she** felt uncomfortable at her size and she had Maximillian in return.

Right now he seemed to sense her unease and took her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Well, whatever the case, there's right now to deal with," he said in his soothing way. He smiled. "I'm completely starved, what about you?"

Miriya took another look at the pasta, which did smell very good and nodded.

"All right then, why don't I get us both a serving?" Maximillian got to his feet and winked at her. "Ladies should be waited on after all."

Miriya smiled and felt a blush rise in her cheeks, she had never been called a lady before.

But she was surprised when Hart looked up and asked Maximillian to see if he could get him a second serving, she had been under the impression that only females cared to be called ladies.

_It's going to be a very long time before I understand micronians,_ she thought, not for the first time and certainly not for the last.

* * *

Minmei didn't think she had ever been hugged so tightly then she was right at that moment by her Aunt Lena.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're all right!" Her aunt said, her voice catching slightly. "Max and I were so worried about you!"

Blinking away her tears so as not to worry Aunt Lena further, Minmei pulled back and smiled up at her. "Of course, I'm OK, Auntie, you know me."

Lena gave a small laugh. "Ever the optimist," she shook her head, and stepped back. "And what about Kyle? Where is he?"

Minmei frowned, but quickly tried to cover it up. When she, Kyle and the rest of them had finally been given permission to leave the observation deck she had told him that they should go and find Aunt Lena and Uncle Max right away. After all, they were probably worried sick.

Kyle, however, wanted nothing to do with it, claiming that after a cold night on a cold tiled floor he was completely exhausted and didn't want to have to deal with his parents.

Minmei had felt a flash of anger at his comments, and had almost told him to stop being so selfish, after all **she** had lost her parents, and so had a lot of other people. _You should be grateful you have yours!_ She had wanted to say, but had decided it would do more harm than good.

But now she had to tell Aunt Lena something, something other than that her own son couldn't be bother to come see her after everything that had just happened.

"Kyle's…well…he was absolutely exhausted, you know how he worries…he's in a shelter fast asleep."

If Aunt Lena was upset by that, she didn't show it, instead she put her arm around Minmei's shoulders and led her over to where Uncle Max was talking with Cathy and Keiji Lynn, Jason's parents.

At the sight of them, Minmei realised she hadn't seen her other cousin yet, which was a worry, but as she turned to her Aunt to ask after him a blur launched itself at her almost out of nowhere.

"Minmei!" Came a shriek and arms wrapped around her waist. "You made it! Everyone heard you singing! It was **sooo** cool!"

Minmei laughed and shaking her head put her hands on her little cousin's shoulders. "Jason! There you are. Where have you been?"

"Mama and Papa made me go to bed," Jason told her, his brown hair flopping back as he looked up at her. "I snuck out though, don't tell them."

"I think they all ready know," Aunt Lena remarked with a calm smile.

Jason looked over his shoulder to see his parents heading their way. "Oh no, I don't wanna go back to bed."

Luckily for him, Cathy and Keiji were so glad to see Minmei again, they didn't ask their son why he was out of bed. Instead each of them hugged her in turn.

"The hero of the war!" Cathy cried, patting her cheek. "You saved us all!"

Minmei felt a blush rise in her cheeks. "Oh no, Cathy, I just helped. It was the pilots really…"

Keiji was shaking his head. "No, we all know that your singing was what shocked the aliens and kept them from fighting back."

"I wish I could have been up there too!" Jason spoke up, his eyes wide. "You saw the whole battle, didn't you?"

Minmei swallowed, remembering, it certainly hadn't been anything to be excited about, at least in her opinion. "It was better that you were safe with your mother and father," she said instead.

Jason made a face, obviously not believing her.

"You did very well, my girl," Uncle Max spoke up, coming over to kiss her cheek and give her a warm hug. "The military played a big part of course, but I don't think we would have made it without you."

Minmei smiled and returned the hug, but wished that everyone could find something else to talk about. She for one, wanted to move on from all this, there didn't seem much point going over it.

But everyone else seemed to and as they chatted on, Minmei's thoughts turned to Rick, she wondered what he was doing right now, she wondered…

It suddenly hit her like a slap. _Oh my God, is he all right? Did he even get through it?_

The thought almost made her burst into tears, she hadn't even considered it! Surely it couldn't be…

Everyone was so busy talking to each other they didn't notice Minmei as she backed away and hurried to find a member of the military, hoping that she would be able to find out what had happened to Rick, hoping that he was still alive.

* * *

"Hey, who's that over there with Roy and Claudia?" Rick asked, suddenly noticing his Big Brother over Lisa's shoulder.

"Hmm?" Lisa turned to look over her shoulder, turning back she gave a small smile. "Oh, that's Claudia's brother, Vince and his girlfriend, they survived, can you believe it?"

"Are you kidding?" Rick's eyebrows rose. "That's totally amazing!"

Lisa nodded. "Miracles can still happen it seems."

Rick noticed her change in tone and realised what she was thinking. "I'm uh…sorry about your father."

Lisa looked taken aback and for a second Rick was certain he'd made a big mistake, but then she gave him a shaky smile. "Thanks…at least I can take comfort that he died doing his duty. That's how he would have wanted to go."

"Yeah," Rick agreed, although he couldn't imagine feeling that way himself.

Lisa's voice surprised him. "So…did…um… did you have any family on Earth?"

Rick looked up to see her nervously fiddling with a lock of her hair, and she wouldn't meet his eyes.

He had to admit to being taken aback. _Since when does Lisa ask personal questions?_

He decided to answer, though he was pretty sure his answer wouldn't make her feel better. "Uh…no…lucky me, huh?"

Lisa looked up at him, her green eyes surprised. "I certainly wouldn't say that. You're only twenty years old, your parents…I mean…" her cheeks reddened and looked down at the table again. "You must have lost your parents young. How old **were** you…if you don't mind me asking, I mean…"

Rick didn't, so he answered. "Well, my mother died when I was about six, I'm not sure what from or how…I never asked my Pop about it."

Lisa nodded. "I know what you mean, my mother died when I was eight, she had cancer, but I didn't know it until I was about sixteen. My father certainly never talked about it with me…I found some letters of hers."

Her voice was soft and it touched Rick, he hadn't know that about Lisa, he had known about her family's long military history, but not that she had lost her mother so young.

"I'm sorry," he wanted to reach out and touch her hand, but didn't feel comfortable doing so. "That must have been really tough."

"Well," she met his eyes, "no more tough than you had it."

"Maybe, but my Pop wasn't in the military, I mean not by then, he and I spent a lot of time together, right up until he died. Your dad was an Admiral, he must have been away from home a lot."

Lisa shrugged, and became tight lipped, Rick got the feeling it wasn't something she wanted to talk about.

He moved the conversation on. "I didn't expect my father's death, it was kind of like one minute it was perfectly well, the next…" He shrugged. He hadn't really given that time of his life much thought and with good reason…it might have been more bearable if Roy had been there…

Turning he looked out the large view port window of the mess at the fingers of lightening the flashed in the sky and the rain pounded against the windows.

_We need a new subject,_ he decided, and looking about the rest of the mess noticed Max and Miriya.

"Hey, you heard about the female Zentraedi Max and Miriya found right?"

Lisa looked up, confused for a moment. "Oh, yes. From her old unit, Miriya called them the 'Quadronos'."

"Gloval and the rest of them really let her on board, that's pretty amazing."

Lisa frowned. "Why wouldn't she be allowed on board, we and the Zentraedi are no longer fighting, it's only right we take care of the injured."

Rick scratched the back of his head, surprised at Lisa's reaction, he hadn't meant it as an insult or anything like that. "Well, uh, yeah, I know… I just meant…well, she's like fifty feet tall, what's going to happen when she's recovered? Where are they even going to **put** her?"

"The hanger bay will do, Lang will come up with something," Lisa told him with certainty.

Rick had never seen Robotech's premiere scientist at work, but Lisa sounded like she knew what she was talking about.

"But still, are the Zentraedi going to stay that size? Like if Commander Breetai and the rest of them land?"

Lisa took a sip of coffee. "That's a difficult problem," she finally commented. "As I said, they're no longer our enemies, but our society or what's left of it, isn't really capable of supporting fifty foot aliens. I'm not sure, though, how many Zentraedi **will** want to be 'micronised' as they call it and we certainly wouldn't want to force them to do it."

Rick raised his eyebrows, taking a sip of his own coffee and making a face, it had gone cold. "Why not?" He pushed the cup away.

"Human…that is…alien rights for one thing," Lisa answered, "do you think we should have the right to dictate to them about what size they have to be?"

Rick ran a hand through his hair. "Hadn't really thought about it to be honest. But Miriya and Rico, Konda and Bron and the rest of them became our size, it's not as if it'll kill 'em or anything."

Lisa shook her head. "That's not really the point. The point is...well it's about freedom, after all, the Zentraedi have spent their entire history being dictated to by their 'Masters'. Are we going to do the same?"

Rick looked out the window again and finally spoke. "Deep."

Lisa gave him an annoyed glance. "These are serious issues, you know, if we're going to have any chance of surviving together we'll need to figure them out soon."

He was taken aback by the serious look in Lisa's eyes…Rick hadn't give much thought about what would happen now that the battle was over, in all honesty he had just assumed that everything would fall into place. Obviously Lisa had a different take on things.

_Maybe everything won't be so simple after all…_


	51. Chapter 51

"_When the world says, "Give up,"  
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."  
_Anonymous Quote

* * *

"Ughh," Claudia woke with a groan then pulled a pillow over her head.

"Well, that's a cheery sound to wake to."

Peeking out from under the pillow, she shot her husband a withering glare. "Shut up, Fokker, ugh…I feel awful. What was in that pasta last night?"

"The regular ingredients I'd assume," Roy replied, climbing out of their bed. "I feel fine."

"And that's the most important thing of course." Claudia grumbled.

"You're in a fine mood today, aren't you?" Roy seemed rather taken aback.

She heaved a sigh, and pulled the pillow off her face. "Sorry, but really I feel absolutely hideous."

Roy, who had gone to the small observation window and pulled up the blind to reveal the still pouring rain beyond, looked over his shoulder at her. "You don't look sick to me…should I call up your brother? Maybe he feels like crap as well. Seriously, though, I thought last night's pasta was one of the mess's better efforts."

"No," Claudia shook her head, "you're right, the pasta was fine, maybe I just slept strangely."

She decided to get up and stretch to see if that made things better, though really it was her stomach rather than her muscles that seemed to be the problem.

Unfortunately, as she feared, it just made things a whole lot worse, her stomach lurched and getting to her feet she rushed for the bathroom almost knocking Roy down in the process.

The ensuite wasn't very well designed and in order to get to the sink, Claudia had to elbow the door closed and for a few brief moments she hunched over it, pretty sure she was going to throw up.

"Hey, Claudia, are you all right?" Roy's worried voice came through the door.

She considered saying something sarcastic, but even though the nausea had passed, she didn't feel up to it. Instead, she backed away from the sink and opened the door.

"I think so…"

Roy put an arm around her shoulders. "Geeze, you look pale, you should lie down," he steered her back to the bed.

"But I'm on duty in two hours."

Roy raised an eyebrow at her. "I didn't know you cared so much, Commander Hayes."

Claudia narrowed her eyes at him. "Lay off Lisa, would you?"

Roy held up a hand in a gesture of surrender. "No offence meant, I was just saying…if you're sick, you're sick."

She had to admit agreeing with him and didn't put up any resistance as he gently pushed her back into bed.

"But this is the worst possible time," she replied.

"I don't know about that, it's not as if we're gonna be attacked any time soon and there's not a lot the civilians can do out there." Roy nodded towards the window. "I'm sure the Captain can spare you, particularly if you're just going to throw up on him."

"I'm **not** going to throw up on him, or on anyone," Claudia returned, slightly annoyed, it was true, but she certainly didn't feel like getting back up.

"Whatever," Roy waved this aside. "The point is, you might as well sleep off whatever it is now, rather than work through it when things are like this. Otherwise you might end up feeling a whole lot worse."

She had to admit he was right, but in the almost two years since the SDF-1 had taken off she hadn't had one sick day and she didn't particularly relish the thought of taking one.

"Hey, I'll explain it to the Captain," Roy assured her, "you can just loll about here in case they call you up."

"Ha ha, very funny."

"Well, you've got to look sick, you know, otherwise they might think you're faking so you can spend time with a certain someone," he gave her a wink.

Claudia couldn't help cracking a small smile. "I can assure them that's **not** the case."

Roy made a show of pouting. "Hey, thanks a lot."

"I just meant you've got to patrol for survivors don't you?" She asked innocently.

Roy smirked at her. "No rest for the wicked, as they say. But you need not fear I'll pass your apologies onto the motley crew of this vessel."

Claudia shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Maybe all your terrible jokes are finally having an impact on me."

"Hey, watch it," Roy warned her playfully, "or I'll leave them to mark you AWOL."

"Threats, how romantic."

"Just a warning, Mrs. Fokker," Roy smiled, "and of course I'd kiss you goodbye, but who knows, you might be contagious."

"Hmpf," Claudia folded her arms.

Roy blew her a kiss instead, before giving her a kiss and disappearing into the bathroom.

Even though she felt quite a bit better, Claudia pulled the covers back over her head, deciding she might as well live up her sick day.

* * *

Exedore was somewhat surprised to discover that Doctor Lang, unlike most micronians, seemed to be fine after all these mil without 'sleep'. It had been Exedore's understanding that micronians required this rest for eight out of every twenty-four hours. Since the end of the great battle, he had been able to do a small bit of research on the race, and had even discovered this particular phenomenon had a name – the 'circadian rhythm'.

He considered asking Lang about this ability, but at that moment the pair came across an artefact of interest.

Such things had actually been far and wide between, it appeared that most of the secret technology that Zor had constructed the SDF-1 was hidden deep within the walls of the ship and neither he nor Lang were cleared to take the fortress apart.

The artefact in question however was in clear sight, so the two of them examined it.

"Is it comparable to anything on ze ships of ze Zentraedi, Ambassador?" Lang asked, his black eyes seeming even larger as he looked over the console.

"I cannot say it is," Exedore shook his head, "although I have to admit, my function in the Zentraedi Armanda did not involve this sort of thing. It would be better if we could get a tech to observe it." He rubbed his chin and looked about. "Unfortunately, there's no way this particular area of the ship would be accessible to a non-micronised Zentraedi and we hardly have the resources right now for that…Or an available tech for that matter."

"Hmmm," Lang nodded thoughtfully, then pulled from his pocket that odd device he referred to as a portable 'PC', a sort of computer. There were of course a few portable devices on Zentraedi ships, but nothing as complex as this micronian one. Among its many functions was a camera, which Lang used now. "Perhaps, one of your techs vill be able to identify it from zese photos," he ventured hopefully.

Exedore wasn't too sure, Zentraedi weren't used to 'static' images like these 'photos' were, it was far more likely any tech who saw them would simply be confused.

Lang then used the PC to take energy readings from the console. "Hmmm…" he murmured again, "ze energy reading is quite low, but it's a signature I've never seen before."

Exedore did not ask to see the PC, he had when he and Lang had first started their search, but he had not been able to make 'heads or tails' as the micronians would say, out of the information on it. He had learnt how to read the micronian language, of course, but had discovered that the nuances of the language made things very difficult.

Both of them did not want to leave the console, but there was not much more they could do, so finally they moved on.

"I believe ve best return to ze lab," Lang remarked checking the 'watch' on his wrist. "Captain Gloval vill be on duty shortly and doubtless he vill vant to speak to both of us."

Exedore nodded his assent and using the PC as a guide Lang lead them back through the corridors towards the 'Robotech' Laboratory and the main computer there which would perhaps provide them with more information about the night's discoveries.

* * *

"So, how did it all turn out with Ms. Hayes?" Roy asked as Rick entered the hanger pulling on his flight gloves.

"Huh?"

"Don't play innocent with me, Little Brother," Roy waggled a finger at him. "I saw you two last night…I suppose all things considered you couldn't really shell out for a better restaurant."

Rick flushed slightly. "Didn't you have anything better to do than spy on me?" He asked, defensively.

"I wasn't spying, I was just noticing…it's the mark of an ace pilot, you know, you should try it." Roy grinned.

"Ha, ha."

"Seriously, though, how's Lisa going? She seemed OK from where I was sitting, but you never know…"

"She's not gonna breakdown over her father's death, if that's what you mean," Rick said, then frowned. "She seems to think there's gonna be a whole lot of trouble on the horizon with the Zentraedi, though."

Roy shrugged. "She's probably right...just think about what happened the first time the SDF-1 crashed, on the surface there was an immediate ceasefire. Truth of the matter, though, there was fighting for another four years or so…and there were even a couple of small assaults just a year before the Launching Ceremony."

Rick frowned at this. "Well, that's an optimistic outlook."

"It's the truth…now it's possible the Zentraedi might act differently, by the sounds of it, they've never been completely defeated before. So when you think about it, things could go one of two ways. Either they won't be able to accept it and want to keep on fighting, or they'll accept it and to be honest with you, though, the latter sounds a bit too good to be true."

Rick sighed and nodded. "I get it." He then changed the subject. "How many survivors do you think we'll find out there?"

"It doesn't look good, I heard reports that damage is at least ninety-five percent and most of that was probably populated areas. If Claudia's brother Vince, Jean and the other survivors we've found so far are any indication they only people who would have got through this are those who were at least ten feet underground. Except for Zentraedi who crashed to Earth in their cruisers, of course."

"How many of them do they figure we'll run into? They're probably not gonna be very friendly."

"Depends really…if it makes you feel better though, their mecha and guns probably won't be working and we have that recorded message from Ambassador Exedore to blast out at them."

Rick still looked nervous, but at that point there was a call for all pilots to receiver their sector assignments. Despite the heavy losses that had been suffered in the final battle there was still a crush as the remaining pilots headed for the debriefing room.

Ten minutes later Roy headed for Skull One having been assigned the outer reaches of South America, there wasn't much information from that sector, aside from the fact that unlike North America, the Zentraedi Armada had concentrated fire on the coast leaving the possibility for survivors further inland.

As he climbed into the cockpit he noticed Rick on the other side of the hanger climbing into a rather battered Veritech, not surprisingly, his Little Brother gave the fighter a rather dubious look. Roy managed to catch his eye and give him the thumbs up, before one of the Cat Crew arrived to direct Roy to the deck of the _Prometheus_.

* * *

Sighing, Rick resigned himself to four hours of boredom as his Veritech flew towards the Middle East (or at least what **had** been the Middle East) on autopilot.

_I'd have to get this assignment, wouldn't I?_ He shook his head and leaned back against his seat. He had no idea where Roy had been sent, but it was probably a lot closer.

_I shouldn't complain,_ he told himself, he was luckier than most of the population on Earth. He was alive for one thing and had access to food and shelter for another, sometimes though, it was hard to keep positive.

"SDF-1 to Vermillion One," Lisa's voice startled him. He sat up straight right away, wanting to make sure that she wouldn't have any reason to tell him off for breaking regs. They had talked for a long time the night before, but Rick still wasn't sure where they stood exactly…_Are we friends or what?_

"Vermillion One," he answered.

"Any report of activity, Lieutenant?" Lisa was speaking automatically, Rick figured she was asking this question to all the Veritech pilots.

"Nope – er, no ma'am," he quickly corrected himself.

"Considering your position I wouldn't have expected it," Lisa replied, almost as if she was talking to herself.

_Yeah,_ Rick thought, taking a quick look out of the cockpit, unless the Brass figured people out on boats could have survived…

"So, **have** there been any reports from the other pilots?" He then asked, curious.

Lisa blinked, and shook her head slightly. "What? Oh…no, I'm afraid not, Lieutenant."

He wasn't surprised, from what he had seen of the land while flying over it, it was hard to believe the planet **itself** was still together.

"Report back if you see anything," Lisa said then, distracted once more.

"Yes, ma'am."

With that Lisa broke the connection, which left Rick with an odd feeling of disappointment, he wanted to say more to her…exactly **what**, he didn't know.

Sighing again, Rick flicked through to sensor mode, setting it to sound an alert if any strange heat signatures were detected.

He let his thoughts wander, going over the past months, defecting aliens, Max and Miriya, the final bombardment…Minmei.

As he told Roy he hadn't really expected to survive the final battle, so hadn't really considered what he to do about his declaration if he did.

All things considered Minmei hadn't reacted with horror, and of course, there had been their kiss…

He wondered if he should have tried to find Minmei the night before, rather than Lisa…

_As if,_ he told himself, with a wry smile. _There's no way Kyle would let me within five feet of her!_

And he figured that after the kiss those two had shared, Kyle probably figured **he** was the one Minmei loved. And maybe he was…Minmei had never actually said anything to the contrary.

_I guess Roy was right…sit on your hands and you lose your chance._

Of course, he couldn't think of how he could have had a chance with Minmei once she had become Miss Macross. Unless, he had quit the RDF or something, there just hadn't been **time**.

Even now, there wasn't any, after what Lisa had said the night before Rick was pretty sure that a lot of his time was going to be devoted to missions like this.

_Yep…gotta a lot to look forward to._

_

* * *

  
_

Despite his best efforts to find a decent bed, Kyle's eyes were still heavy as he searched for Minmei.

Stifling a yawn, he ran his hand across them and blinked hard a few times, which cleared his head a little.

He arrived at what had to be the twentieth shelter, hoping that she'd be in this one. There were two hundred shelters and Kyle didn't relish having to go through all of them.

"Lynn Minmei?" The solider at the door repeated, rising his eyebrows. "Didn't notice her here…if I had I would've asked for her autograph that's for damn sure."

Kyle bit back a sarcastic retort, the worst thing about all this was having to speak to the military. Just the sight of the uniform was enough to make him want to lash out.

But if he was proud of nothing else, it was his ability to keep calm and in control.

"What about Lena Lynn?" Sometimes Minmei would disguise herself, so oddly enough more people might recognise tall and graceful Lena in such cases. "She co-owns the _White Dragon_."

The solider tapped his bottom lip thoughtfully. "Nah, which is a shame 'cause I'd sure like some dim-sum, you know what I mean?" He gave a laugh.

Kyle grunted non-commitally and then excused himself and continued on down the metal labyrinth for the next shelter.

He blamed himself for his current predicament, but of course, if Minmei hadn't **insisted** on going to find his parents.

_Well, she just lost __**her**__ parents…why wouldn't she want to be with her Aunt and Uncle?_ A small voice lectured him, but he ignored it. He could understand Minmei going to his mother, he supposed, but how she could possibly get on with his father?

He soon lost track of how many shelters he'd been to, asking the same questions, until finally…

"Minmei, yeah, she's in here…you gotta love her, even after everything she's getting swarmed by people and just taking it in her stride." The solider standing guard at this particularly shelter grinned widely. "She even gave me her autograph, isn't that something?"

Kyle clenched his fist. _The nerve of that baboon! Pestering her for an autograph after tearing our planet to shreds!_

Somehow he managed not to say any of this out loud. "Can I come in and see her?"

The solider looked at him puzzled, obviously trying to place him, but not having much luck. "Uh…I dunno, everyone's supposed to remain in the shelter they went to at the beginning…what are you doing walking around anyway?"

"I'm Minmei's cousin."

"Oh yeah, I thought you looked familiar!" The solider snapped his fingers. "Well…OK then."

Kyle gave him a curt nod and headed into the shelter, which was packed with around two hundred people.

He noticed though that most people seemed to be crowding in one particular area and it was a pretty obvious why.

"Excuse me," he mumbled as he pushed past various people, finally, the unmistakable black hair of his cousin appeared.

"Minmei!" He called, waving his arm.

Heads turned, but he ignored them, focusing only on Minmei, who looked surprised, then smiled.

"Kyle, there you are," she gave him a wave, and as he reached her side, she took his arm. "Where did you go?"

"Just some other shelter," he replied with a shrug, before turning her away from the crowd so he could talk to her without them gawking at them. "What about you…did you get **any **sleep last night?"

She gave him a small smile. "A bit…but it wasn't anyone's fault, I've just been worried."

"Oh?" Kyle gave her a sheepish look. "Well, uh…sorry, but you know how things between my parents and I-"

"No, not that," she was shaking her head. "I was worried about Rick…I still am, I couldn't find out anything…"

Kyle furrowed his brows. "What?"

"The man guarding the door here didn't have any information," Minmei continued.

"I don't even know why he's here," Kyle snapped, angrier at Minmei's preoccupation with Rick Hunter then anything else. "What do we need guarding for…a typically fascist military move."

Minmei though, didn't seem to hear him. "Do you think he survived, Kyle?" She looked up at him, her blue eyes wide.

_How would I know? And why would I care?_ Kyle felt like replying, but he knew that would be a stupid move. He didn't know what Minmei saw in that warmongering pilot, but he didn't want to anger her.

"I'm sure we'll find out who made it," he said instead. "It's not like they can keep it a secret."

"But Kyle I **need** to know…Rick came up with the idea for me to sing, he saved us all!"

Kyle bristled, clenching his teeth, whether Hunter saved them or not didn't matter, considering that the military had got them into the whole mess in the first place. _What thanks do they deserve? None!_

"Well, you asked, there's not much more you can do," he shrugged, sounding a lot calmer then he felt.

Minmei frowned. "Maybe we can go looking for someone higher up…after all **you **were walking around the ship."

Kyle kneaded his forehead, the **last** thing he wanted to do was go on a wild goose chase. "I really don't think it'll do any good." He put an arm around her shoulders. "Besides, I'm tired and I'm sure you are too, don't you think this would be a good time to get some shut-eye?"

Minmei's frown became a pout, which would have made most of her fans do anything she wanted.

Kyle though, wasn't really a 'fan' and he certainly wasn't going to indulge her desire to find out about Hunter. He squeezed her shoulder and made a show of yawning, he was rewarded by Minmei echoing the yawn.

"See, you're dead on your feet just like I am." He said cajoling.

"I guess so," she replied, yawning again.

"Come on then, let's find somewhere to sleep in peace and quite in this damn place."

* * *

Despite no longer feeling ill, the intensity of the last battle had obviously worn her out a lot more than she thought, since she was snoozing when the sound of the phone ringing woke her.

Lifting her head up from her pillow with an annoyed grunt, Claudia reached out and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Hey, sis! I didn't expect you to be there…I thought you'd be on duty." her brother's voice came over the line.

"I'm supposed to be…but I'm playing hooky."

"**My** by-the book sister? I can't believe it," Vince gasped in mock horror. "I always knew Fokker was bad news…corrupting you like this."

Claudia gave a laugh. "For your information, brother dear, my husband is out there flying recon."

The phone in the bedroom didn't have a comm. screen, but Claudia could imagine her brother raising his eyebrows in surprise.

"Well, I guess people **do** change." He remarked.

"To be honest with you, Vince, I wasn't feeling all that well this morning-"

"You weren't?" Vince instantly sounded concerned.

_So typical,_ Claudia thought, fondly,_ he may be nine years younger than me_, _but you'd never know it._

"I'm all right now," she assured him, "I was just a little woozy, that battle must have affected me more than I thought."

"Hmm…" Vince still sounded concerned. "Maybe Jean and I should come by and she can take a look at you."

"That's not really necessary, Vince, really," Claudia shook her head, even though her brother couldn't see her. _Honestly, what a worry-wart! As if poor Jean would want to be looking over a perfectly healthy person after everything she's been through. _"But if you and Jean want to come over for tea, that'd be nice…we could catch up. There's **still** things I haven't got around to telling you, despite talking your ear off last night."

"Great idea," Vince sounded enthused. "Lemme just ask Jean…" There was the sound of muffled voices and then he came back on the line. "We'll be there in about twenty minutes…that's OK, isn't it?"

"Sure, fortunately, Fokker's been so busy he hasn't had a chance to mess up the place like he usually would and neither have I."

"You two really **do **sound like a match made in heaven," Vince laughed. "See you soon, sis!"

* * *

Once airborne, Roy had put Skull One on autopilot, which was something he hadn't done since the war began. Full control wasn't necessary and it was also the best way to conserve fuel.

Roy stifled a yawn as he swept his eyes across his radar screen. It seemed rather callous to be bored, but he had been flying for five hours without seeing a single thing out there.

Until now…

It wasn't humans or Zentraedi however, but it **was** something.

Trees…

Or at least the trunks and branches of them.

A quick check told him he was flying over a northern sector of the Amazon, or at least what **had** been the Amazon a few days ago.

There wasn't a hint of greenery on any of the bare branches, but the fact trees were still standing was certainly something.

He opened the tac net. "Skull Leader to SDF-1."

"This is SDF-1," Lisa replied, sounding weary.

Roy gave his co-ordinates and added. "It looks like some trees managed to survive the bombardment."

Lisa's eyes widened and she gasped. "You're kidding!"

"Don't get your hopes up too much. They look kind of…dead…but they're still standing, so that's something."

"Oh," Lisa sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I guess it would be too good to be true."

"So, should I get samples or something?"

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "That's a good idea…I'm impressed, Fokker."

Roy smirked. "Hey, settle down there, that's not standard comm. procedure, is it?"

"Just get samples, Commander," Lisa ordered, sternly. "Save the snide comments for your wife, she can take them."

She was kidding, Roy could tell, but he decided not to push his luck. Instead he gave a salute. "Aye, aye, ma'am."

Lisa gave a distracted nod then broke the connection.

_Talk about tense…I guess without Claudia there she's doing twice the work, _he figured, but then wondered. _I hope whatever they talked about yesterday Rick didn't screw up. _

It wasn't a vote of confidence in his Little Brother, but Roy had to admit sometimes conversation just wasn't Rick's strong suit.

_Then again, considering what Claudia had to say to me this morning, maybe I'm not one to talk!_ He shook his head with a smile as he banked Skull One towards Earth.


	52. Chapter 52

"_We'll look for survivors and we won't give up, until there's no-one else to find." _Quote from an unknown Veritech pilot.

* * *

Breetai stroked his chin as he sat in his command chair, considering carefully, the next move for the Zentraedi.

As it had turned out it hadn't been necessary for Breetai to find the right words to tell the surviving Zentraedi. The news had all ready spread throughout the crowded cruiser of the fate of most of their race…the chief reaction, though, was one that Zentraedi were not used to…fear.

Breetai couldn't blame them, not that he would ever admit to such an emotion himself, but subconsciously, he too felt it…

The absence of Exedore was also taking its toll, Breetai had never realised before how he had come to rely on his Advisor.

Coming to his feet, Breetai strode to the edge of the command bubble and called down to a tech below.

"Can you put a transmission through to the planet?"

The tech entered a few inputs, then shook his head. "Not at this moment, my lord, there appears to be some sort of electrical activity in the area where Zor's fortress landed. It's inferring with our communication."

Breetai gave an annoyed grunt, before nodding to the tech and return to his command chair.

A few mil later, Tech Menzel spoke. "My lord, we're receiving an on-ship communication from First Officer Lundok."

Breetai furrowed his brow, Lundok had been extremely resistant about turning over his ship to be drained of Protoculture. In the end, threats of execution had had to be used to get him to co-operate, however, it looked as if he was going to cause trouble.

Tenting his fingers under his chin, Breetai growled. "Very well, patch it through."

A comm. screen and Lundok's grey face appeared.

"My Lord," he greeted Breetai with the required salute, but there was an underlying carelessness to it. "What fine plan have you come up with for the direction we, the remaining Zentraedi, will take?"

Breetai narrowed his eye. "I'd watch your tone, First Officer," he began, "the Grand Commander is gone, and **I** am the one who remains."

Lundok's twisted his mouth into something resembling a grimace. "I mean no disrespect to you, my Lord."

"Hmpf," Breetai grunted, folding his arms. "You must take me for a fool, First Officer…I shall let it pass **this** time," he raised his chin, "but you won't have a second chance."

Lundok's grey face became slightly white, but aside from that showed no other sign of fear.

After a moment he spoke, his tone sombre. "I ask this question only because I am concerned, my Lord, I don't believe it is in our best interests to stay here."

Breetai raised his eyebrow. "Why is that, Lundok? What information do you have that I do not?"

Lundok's resolve seemed to waver for a moment, but then taking a deep breathe he met Breetai's eyes squarely. "None, my Lord, but my instincts tell me so. What reasons do we have to throw our lot in with the micronians? After all, why should we trust them?"

"The better question, Lundok, is why should they trust **us**, we being the ones who attacked and pursued them."

"Perhaps, they **don't** trust us…this is all the more reason to abandon this place while we still can."

Breetai felt a twinge of uncertainty at Lundok's words, perhaps the First Officer was right… But then, the micronians had agreed to the truce and had not attempted a double cross during the battle, when it could have been quite easy…

And of course there was Exedore…

"Lundok, listen to me," Breetai spoke gravely, "I will have no more of this, **I** have made the decision that we will remain here **and** that we are to work together with the micronians." He raised a fist threateningly. "Ignore this at your peril."

* * *

Jean watched as Claudia set down a tea tray on the coffee table and sat across from her and Vince.

"I've been saving those cream puffs for a special occasion," she announced, a sly grin on her face. "But I guess you visiting will have to do." She gave Vince a wink.

"What a welcome," Vince shook his head, "we drove through Hell for this?"

"It was no picnic for us either, you know," Claudia returned. "So I'd be thankful."

Vince picked up a cream puff and looked it over, with what Jean thought was suspicion.

"Did you make these yourself?"

Claudia raised her eyebrows. "Why does that matter? You know I'm an **excellent** cook."

"Yeah, yeah," Vince raised an eyebrow at her. "Just tell me."

"No, I didn't, you happy?"

"Yep," with a smile Vince took a large bite of the puff. "Mmmmm, hey Jean, try one, it's perfectly safe."

"I'm beginning to wonder why I ever missed you," Claudia huffed.

Jean shook her head. "Vince, don't be so mean I'm sure anything Claudia cooked would be delicious."

Vince smirked. "I wouldn't bet on it, Jean," he turned to his sister, "I still remember that fish thing you tried to kill us with on one of Mama and Pa's Anniversaries, what the Hell **was** that?"

"If you're just going to insult me, you can take yourself back home, brother," Claudia glared at him.

"OK, OK, truce, truce," Vince held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "What about you? Are you going to have one?"

Claudia picked one up, but made no move to take a bite.

Vince turned to her. "Jean?"

"Can I have half of yours?" She asked.

"You don't need to watch your weight, you know," Vince spilt the cream puff in half and handed a piece to her.

She gave him a look. "I just find pastries too sweet."

"I thought that was a compliment," Vince looked somewhat confused.

Claudia smirked. "Smooth move, Vincent."

"What about you, sis, you love those things."

Claudia gave the cream puff another look over, before putting it back down on a plate. "I'm not all that hungry."

Vince immediately looked concerned. "I thought you weren't feeling ill anymore."

Claudia gave a laugh. "Honestly, Vince, you're such a worrier, I told you I'm **fine**."

"OK, OK, just asking…"

Jean decided to change the subject. "I still don't understand how this ship ended up in Pluto's orbit."

"Well…the Captain's plan was to fold beyond the moon," Claudia began, then shook her head. "But we didn't…don't really know everything about the ship, least of all how the fold drives worked. Obviously, there was a mistake in the calculations, or the Earth's gravity affected them. Next thing you know we're out there…the drives, though, had completely disappeared."

Vince almost dropped his cream puff. "Woah, wait…**disappeared**? How?"

Claudia shrugged. "Beats me, I'm no scientist, and even Lang couldn't figure it out, so it'll probably be a mystery forever."

Vince shook his head, a stunned look on his face.

"So you got back on engine power and then the UEG sent you back to space…without offloading the civilians?" Jean frowned. "How could they do that?"

"God knows…I can understand sending the ship away after the Hamilton incident, but the civilians had nothing to do with it." Claudia shook her head.

"Those guys are unbelievable…" Vince growled, clenching his fist. "I'm almost glad they brought it at Alaska Base."

Jean turned to Vince a little surprised at his harshness. "That's a little much…I'm sure they thought they were doing the right thing."

"Yeah, for **them**," Vince growled.

"It's no use in complaining about it now," Claudia replied with a shrug and a shake of her head. "Let's talk about something more exciting, you two tying the knot." She grinned. "When's the big day, huh?"

Jean blushed and ducked her head. The idea that Vince had asked her to marry him still seemed so new.

She felt Vince's arm around her shoulders again and he commented. "I don't think it's gonna be any time soon…I mean, the end of the world isn't really an appropriate time to get married, wouldn't you say?"

Claudia pursed her lips. "I don't know about **that**, nothing like a celebration to inspire the masses."

Jean looked up, her cheeks going pale. "You don't mean we should invite everyone in Macross City to come?" She swallowed at the thought of marrying in front of tens of thousands of people. "We don't even know them!"

Claudia laughed. "You don't have any aspirations for fame, I guess… But you've got a point, Max and Miriya Sterling you two ain't."

"What's **that** all about," Vince spoke up, "marrying an alien? I'm not trying to be rude, but what on Earth was that guy thinking?"

Claudia smiled wryly, "I have to admit I thought the same thing…**especially **considering what Miriya got up to before falling for Sterling."

"What **did** she get up to?" Jean asked, curiously.

"You had to ask," Claudia shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Well, sit back and prepare for a Hell of a story."

* * *

Flying over the Middle East was proving to be a rather pointless exercise as far as Rick could tell.

Both his eyes and his instruments told him there was nothing left down there.

Except of course for new wide tracks of land from the evaporation of tonnes of ocean water.

It didn't look like the water would be gone for too long, though, huge tracks of threatening black clouds stretched above as far as Rick could see, even further then the sensors could detect.

"SDF-1 to Vermillion Leader," he was slightly shocked at the sound of Lisa's voice, it was so empty out there, it made him feel like he was the only human alive.

"This is Vermillion Leader," he remembered to answer after a moment.

"Can you report on anything sighted?" On the monitor, Lisa distractedly brushed back a strand of hair.

Rick shook his head "'Fraid not, there's nothing out here."

As it turned out he spoke to soon, at that moment his radar alerted him to an object detected. A **big **one.

"Ah, wait a sec, hold that thought…there's something down there…but I don't think it's human."

Lisa raised her eyebrows. "A Zentraedi ship?"

"Yep…I mean, roger," Rick confirmed as the radar identified the object.

"Confirmed, SDF-1 requests that you investigate the object and broadcast Ambassador Exedore's message on all channels."

Rick swallowed, his readouts indicated that the Zentraedi ship was probably intact and the thought of heading straight for it seemed to go against common sense.

He did have his orders.

"Aye, aye, Vermillion Leader heading in," he reported before signing off in order to broadcast Exedore's message.

As he closed in on the ship, from which tendrils of smoke were still rising, obviously it hadn't had the easiest ride into the atmosphere.

There was no response to Exedore's broadcast either and Rick began to wonder if there was anyone alive in there.

Finally he was right on top of the ship, however, the Veritech's radar wasn't strong enough to detect what was going on inside the ship through its armour.

Rick decided to broadcast a message of his own, though it wasn't too likely the aliens would be able to understand him. "This is Vermillion Leader, from the SDF-1, Lord Breetai has allied himself with us." He hoped mention of the Zentraedi Commander's name would keep any survivors in the ship from firing on them if they could.

But there was still no response. He opened the tac-net and called the Bridge. "I'm not getting a response, SDF-1, I don't think there's any survivors…" there was a look of disappointment on Lisa's face, and the next words were out of Rick's mouth before he could really think them through. "I can go to Battloid mode and do a deep recon."

Lisa looked almost as surprised as he felt and she spoke over her shoulder for a moment, presumably to Gloval.

"The Captain requests that you do so, Vermillion Leader, but take the upmost care, if there's any sign of danger, withdraw immediately."

"Roger," Rick nodded, thinking, _You don't have to tell __**me**__ twice_.

With that he flicked the 'B' switch on his console, converting to Battloid and landing Gatling gun at the ready as he headed towards the silent smoking alien ship.

* * *

Seloy Deparra stared up at the grey ceiling above, trying to ignore the micronian activity around her (particularly because of the presence of males). Somehow they had managed to put together a soft surface for her to lie on and the past thousand or so lon had passed in surprising comfort.

But that didn't mean she wanted to stay here any longer than she had to, in fact she was quite certain she was able to leave now.

The only thing stopping her was Miriya, she had not seen her Commander since being released from her Quaedluun-Rau. No matter how Seloy felt about being among the micronians she did not wish to leave before talking to Miriya. It was un-Zentraedi-like in the extreme, but there were some rules Seloy could abandon.

However, none of these micronians spoke Zentraedi and she didn't know their language either, so she was unable to ask about Miriya's whereabouts. She would have to wait it out.

No sooner had she resigned herself to that though, she heard a voice that was very familiar to her.

Turning her head slowly (every muscle still ached) she was stunned to see, of any Zentraedi, Advisor Exedore!

She knew his voice only because nearly all Zentraedi who had lived for any amount of time did. Two lon ago during one of their great battles, when Seloy had been a simple officer, she had heard recorded messages from the Advisor, the oldest of the Zentraedi and the holder of all their history and laws.

There had been rumours, just prior to the last battle that Exedore had gone to the micronian ship, but no-one in the Quadronos had believed it.

But not only had he done so, he had gone through micronisation as well!

"First Officer Seloy," the hunched tiny Zentraedi called to her, his voice barely audible.

"Advisor Exedore!" She attempted to salute, but the Advisor told her to stop.

"I understand you have been injured rather badly," Advisor Exedore continued.

"Through my own fault, and whether I survive or not is up to me," Seloy responded, almost automatically.

"Indeed," the Advisor agreed, although Seloy had the feeling he wasn't really listening. A feeling confirmed by what he said next. "I'd like to know, First Officer, if you can tell me the condition of Lady Azonia's fleet when you last saw it. As you may be aware we've been unable to establish contact with any of the female Zentraedi."

Seloy sighed and closed her eyes, visualising the final time she saw her Quadronos and combatants-in-arms. She could see the explosions and hear the strange sound made by that micronian female, out the corner of her eye she saw the purple ships of the female Zentraedi surrounded by forces from the Grand Commander's fleet and then…

Then nothing…

Opening her eyes she looked towards the tiny form of Advisor Exedore. "No, I cannot tell you anything…last I saw of them though they were surrounded."

"Hmmm," Advisor Exedore murmured, and it seemed to Seloy he had a strange look in his eyes (with his size it was hard to tell…). "It seems improbable that they could have survived then…That is very unfortunate." He remarked with a sigh.

Seloy was surprised by the comment, as far as she knew no Zentraedi (except Miriya, but that was an unusual case) had ever expressed regret at the demise of others, **especially** not others of the opposite sex.

It certainly brought into clear focus what she should do, however. Setting her jaw with determination, she spoke. "There is still a chance, though, Advisor, and I would like to be able to search for my fellow females."

Advisor Exedore widened his eyes slightly at her declaration. "You plan to wander this planet in search of them?"

"If need be."

The Advisor turned to the micronian beside him, one with large black eyes, which were very unsettling, she looked away from him very quickly.

The two spoke in the micronian language for some mil before Advisor Exedore spoke to her again.

"Dr. Lang does not believe you will have much success…and you will of course, have to wait until you are fully healed from your wounds."

Seloy heaved an annoyed sigh, she was more than sure she would be able to move just fine in less than a lon, but she was quite sure that the micronians would seek to keep her longer.

_Of course, considering __**their**__ puny size, there's not much they can do to stop me, is there?_ She realised, taking comfort in that fact.

To Exedore and the micronian accompanying him, though, she nodded. "I understand."

Exedore nodded and then turned to speak to the micronian again and the two of them left the hanger and Seloy with her thoughts.

And she had a lot of thinking to do if she was going to track down her comrades on this strange planet.

* * *

Rain was still falling steadily as Skull One descended below decks on the _Prometheus_.

Roy had been on duty for twelve hours, which after the shifts he'd pulled during the SDF-1's journey back to Earth had been a cake-walk.

It had been one of the most uneventful, though, except for the sighting of dead trees on the Columbian border, the rest of his search had yielded nothing. It was looking less and less likely that Dr. Lang's hope of pockets of survivors would come to pass.

Climbing from Skull One, Roy pulled off his helmet and stretched his legs before opening a small compartment under the Veritech's nose, pulling out a sealed container, inside of which were samples from the trees.

Gloval had instructed him to take the container to Dr. Lang, which really wasn't something Roy felt like doing right then, but orders were orders.

Fortunately, the science sector of the Base wasn't too much of a walk and in less than ten minutes, the sliding doors of Robotechnology Lab 1 were opening.

Inside Lang was deep in conversation with the Zentraedi Ambassador, whose name Roy couldn't quite recall just then.

"Fokker reporting as ordered," he saluted.

Lang and the Ambassador turned from the computer they were engrossed in.

"Ah, Commander Fokker, you haff brought the specimens I see," Lang's black eyes seemed to gleam as he headed over. "Straight after you landed, I hope?"

"Hey, I barely let my jets cool," Roy assured the man, passing the container to him.

The Zentraedi moved closer to take a look at the container as well.

"Commander Fokker discovered some plant life out zere," Lang explained, "study of zese specimens vill give us some idea on how long it vill take the planet to begin its recovery."

"Ah," the Ambassador nodded.

Roy watched as Lang headed over to a table covered with all sorts of scientific instruments, a microscope being the only one he recognised.

"Zere was no sign of any **live** plants, I understand," Lang looked over his shoulder.

"'Fraid not, Doc," Roy shook his head. "No survivors either."

"Hmmm," Lang murmured, turning back to the instruments on the table and set the container down.

The Zentraedi joined Lang, clearly interested in what experiments were going to be run, but Roy had more important things on his mind. Like Claudia, _I hope she's OK, she's gonna kill me otherwise._

He couldn't think of a polite way to excuse himself, so he decided to be blunt.

"You need me for anything else, Doc? 'Cause I got some things to do…"

Lang who was bending over the microscope looked up, obviously forgetting that Roy was in the room. "Oh no, not at ze moment, Commander, thank you again for ze sample."

Roy saluted and headed back to the _Prometheus _to deliver his report on the situation in South America, or at least the northern part of it.

He didn't see Rick around, but seeing as he had pulled assignment to the Middle East, Roy figured he'd be a while yet.

Gibson was in the Debriefing Room, however, which made Roy pause at the door. He hadn't seen the guy since the last battle and the scuttlebutt was that his entire family had been on Earth during the Zentraedi Bombardment and had probably not survived. Which, all things considered was somewhat unusual, most pilots at least had a girlfriend or sibling who was a citizen of Macross and Roy wondered if he should say anything to someone who had lost his whole family.

As it turned out, Gibson spoke first. "Find anyone out there, Fokker?"

He shook his head. "How 'bout you."

Gibson turned away. "Nothing."

Considering that he had pulled the East Coast, Roy wasn't too surprised, but he certainly didn't want to say so. After all, there had still been hope before.

"I came across some trees," he commented as he scanned in his report on the mainframe. "Not alive, but you know, that's still something."

"Sure, whatever," Gibson mumbled, before leaving without so much as a salute. Roy decided not to hold it against him.

His duties completed, Roy immediately headed for the barracks, hoping that Claudia would be up and about, and not lying in bed, throwing up in a trash can or something.

"Well, Fokker, you finally decided to turn up!" Vince's voice greeted him as he entered.

"Hey, watch it Sargent Grant," he shot back with a grin, "I don't know how you got out of duty, but I can get you in a lot of trouble."

Vince raised his eyebrows. "Threatening your own brother-in-law, that's nice."

"I'll let you off," Roy gave a shrug, "as long as you hand that over," he pointed at the cream puff in front of Vince.

Vince made a show of looking crushed. "Oh come on, Fokker! Be fair, anything but that!"

"Vince," his fiancée gave him a swat on the arm, "you've had three of those, all ready."

"Geeze, I'm surprised you're still in shape," Roy shook his head.

Holding his hands up in a gestured of surrender, Vince held out the plate to Roy. "Like I said to Claudia, I drove through Hell for all this?"

Roy took a bite of the cream puff, which was even tastier than usual after twelve hours of nothing. "Yeah, this place is an absolute torture chamber."

"Hmpf, I 'm glad your priorities are in the right place."

Roy turned, embarrassed, to his wife, who was sitting with her arms folded.

"Ahem," he swallowed and setting down his plate hurried over to give Claudia a kiss. "How you feeling, dear?"

"I'm so glad you've decided to ask," Claudia replied, still looking very miffed. "I'm fine."

"Well, that's a relief," Roy gave her a grin and sat down next to her on the couch. "I figured you were though, I mean, you brought out the cream puffs."

"For your information I haven't even had any those," Claudia turned away from him.

"Oh," he looked over at Vince and Jean, wondering how exactly he'd managed to put his foot in it, but the two of them just shrugged. "Err…well, here," he held the plate out to her. "You can have the rest of this."

Claudia however, got to her feet she almost knocked the plate out of his hand.

"Forget it," she snapped, and stomped off to the bedroom, the door sliding shut behind her.

Silence fell over the room for a moment as Roy, Vince and Jean stared at each other.

"What was **that**?" Vince finally spoke up.

Roy shrugged. "Beats the Hell outta me…"


	53. Chapter 53

"_Every other pilot's report on their search pretty much said: Nothing happened._

_**Mine**__ on the other hand…"_ From the Journal of Rick Hunter

* * *

Rick had converted Vermillion One to Battloid and he now moved closer and closer toward the downed Zentraedi ship.

It was one of the "smaller" types, but that really wasn't the right word in Rick's opinion, it was almost as long as the _Prometheus_.

It had come to rest in a mud flat and was listing to starboard at an almost thirty degree angle.

So far, there had been no movement, either friendly or not and Rick started wondering if anyone was alive in there…

Opening the external microphone he replayed Exedore's message, but there was still no response.

There was also no response from the SDF-1, he wasn't sure what the problem was, but figured it probably had something to do with the weather, last he'd heard from Lisa it was still pouring down.

He had a good idea though, what the powers-that-be on the Bridge would want him to do, so he kept walking until he was standing in front of one of the hatches to the ship.

He was pretty sure it was useless to try, but he figured nothing ventured, nothing gained, so making a fist with the right hand of the Battloid he knocked on the hatch.

"Hey, anyone home in there?" He called.

As expected there was no answer so taking a few steps back he aimed the head lasers of Vermillion One and cut a hole in the hatch large enough to fit the hands of the Battloid through and pull the metal apart enough for him to fit.

It was pitch black inside the ship, but with a quick flick of a switch, Rick turned on the search-lights illuminating a long silent corridor.

He began walking down it, watching his radar screen, but there was still interference preventing it from properly scanning the area.

But it didn't seem it would pick anything up even if it was working, in fact it seemed not so much that everyone on board had been killed, rather that the ship had been abandoned.

Finally coming to a door that was partly opened, he reached out and pulled it all the way, revealing the launch bay beyond.

Running the search lights around the huge space, Rick didn't see a battle pod or any Zentraedi sized armour for that matter. He supposed that wasn't all that surprising, any solider on the ship would have been out fighting when the battle reached its end.

_You'd think the crew would be on here somewhere though…_ Rick thought with a frown, wishing that he'd had the foresight to load on plans of the Zentraedi ships on the Veritech computer. As it was he could only hazard a guess on how to get to the bridge.

He began to head for the nearest door, hoping to come across an elevator shaft.

About five minutes after leaving the launch bay there was a burst of static from his radio, reaching out he fiddled around with the controls until he could at least understand what was being said, even if he couldn't get a visual.

"Vermillion One...report…"

"Vermillion One here," he called, "I'm inside the vessel, no sign of life."

"Roger…" Lisa's voice was interrupted by a burst of static. "We…and…"

"Uh," Rick fiddled with the controls a little more, hoping to make it clearer. "Say again, SDF-1?"

"We need…" It was no use though, the radio gave a loud screech and then went dead.

"Great," Rick muttered to himself, he didn't have a clue what Lisa could possibly be asking, he just hoped it wasn't to return to Base immediately because high levels of radiation had been found or something like that.

The Veritech's gauges indicated all was normal, however, so he decided to continue on.

The further he went into the ship, the creepier it seemed, one of Rick's favourite stories as a kid had been about ghost ships, but this sort of thing was enough to make him change his mind.

_I just hope I'll be able to get out of here once I've finished -_

His thoughts were interrupted with a loud shout from somewhere behind him.

Rick made to turn the Battloid around to face the Zentraedi, he reached out to play Exedore's message, but a laser flash streaked past, followed by another that hit the Battloid's right shoulder sending Rick crashing to the ground.

_Holy shit!_

As quick as he could, Rick rolled the Battloid over, and noticing a door, dived as the Zentraedi behind him took another shot.

"Damnit!" Swearing Rick tried to play the message, but there was the sound of pounding feet and he looked up to see three more Zentraedi, massive riffles in hand heading straight at him.

"I come in peace!" He shouted ineffectively over the Veritech's pick ups as he got the Battloid to its feet and stared running.

He tried to play the message again, but as laser fire arced everywhere, there were really more important things to consider.

Like not dying for instance.

* * *

"Lieutenant Hunter, Vermillion Leader, come in please," Lisa called over the tac net, fiddling with the frequency. "This is SDF-1, Vermillion Leader, please respond?"

All she got for her troubles was a loud screech of static.

Logically, she knew she should move on to the other few pilots returning from their patrols, but she hated not knowing what was going on with Rick…

But there were protocols to be followed.

"Blue Leader, this is SDF-1," she called and received an immediate response. As she did with Orange and Wolf Leaders, it was only Rick who was not responding.

"Hmmm, I hope Lieutenant Hunter didn't run into any trouble investigating that Zentraedi cruiser," Captain Gloval remarked as if reading her mind. "Vanessa," he turned towards the threat board. "Can you pick up Hunter's signature on the long range radar."

"I'll try, sir, but there's a lot of electromagnetic interference out there," Vanessa warned, straightening her glasses and entering a number of inputs.

Lisa was on the edge of her seat (not that that was too difficult considering…) waiting to hear Vanessa's report.

She was disappointed when she did.

"I can't pick up Lieutenant Hunter's signature at all, sir, his last recorded position was just outside the Zentraedi cruiser."

Captain Gloval stroked his moustache thoughtfully. "Perhaps we should send a search party." He looked over at Lisa.

Checking her readouts, her heart dropped, although she didn't let that show as she looked over her shoulder. "We don't have any Veritechs anywhere near Hunter's location, it would take at least an hour for any of them to reach him."

"Hmmm," the Captain murmured again. "Let's keep an eye on the situation, then…if we haven't heard from Lieutenant Hunter in forty minutes we'll send someone out."

"Aye, aye, sir," she gave a nod, although deep down she wanted to send someone to Rick's location right away.

_Duty is over-rated,_ she thought, perhaps for the first time in her life.

* * *

Miriya had planned to see Seloy as soon as she returned from her patrol (which had taken her over areas that intel had indicated a large number of Zentraedi ships had fallen), which hadn't yielded any results, but Max caught up with her.

"Didn't find anything either, huh?" He greeted her with a frown on his face, a look that had surprised Miriya since she was used to his look of 'optimism' as the micronians called it. She wondered what he'd seen to make him look so.

"I am afraid not," she shook her head. "Most of the Zentraedi ships I saw were broken beyond recognition, no chance of survival."

Max sighed and ran a hand through his blue hair, which was messier than usual. "There wasn't a single town or city standing in the sector I went to…total devastation."

Something about the way he said that worried Miriya a little, after all, it was **her **race that had caused such destruction to his home planet. Her Zentraedi status really hadn't been brought up between them since that day he had bested her in hand to hand combat. For the first time since then, though, she wondered…could it come between them?

But Max put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "We can't lose hope though," he gave her a smile, "I bet one of the pilots will find **something** out there."

Miriya nodded, though she wasn't sure how friendly any Zentraedi they found would be.

* * *

One of them **had** and it wasn't going too well.

Rick checked his screens, he was seriously short on ammo and he couldn't raise the SDF-1 at all.

Any attempts to get **out** of the ship had been met with resistance, obviously these Zentraedis were angry and wanted someone to take it out on.

And in typical style Rick had shown up.

_Shit, shit, shit._

The beam of a laser narrowly missed the head of his Battloid, shearing off one of the head turret lasers. Instinctively, Rick put the Battloid into a duck, hoping that if he made himself as small as possible the Zentraedis would…

He wasn't actually sure what he was trying to accomplish here.

The Zentraedis he was fighting seemed to know it too, however, on the plus side, they didn't seem to have a plan either. In fact, they didn't seem to be in communication with each other at all, which was probably the reason Rick wasn't dead yet.

That and the fact they didn't have any battle pods.

With any luck they'd run out of ammo and Rick would be able to make short work of them.

Right, that was the plan.

At least until one of the Zentraedis jumped onto the back of his Battloid, trying to break through the face plate and crush Rick like a bug inside.

Rick though, wasn't the sort to give up, he started thrashing, attempting to grab hold of the Zentraedi or failing that fling him off.

But the Zentraedi wasn't one to give up either…He got two massive arms around the Battloid's neck and seemed to be two seconds away from shearing the head clear off when Rick got a lucky shot in.

The elbow of the Battloid caught the Zentraedi right in the groin and with a howl the alien let him go.

Rick managed to smash through the nearest wall, which unfortunately just led him into another corridor. His positioning equipment was working at least, indicating if he got through three more walls he'd be free of the alien ship.

Easier said then done, of course.

Three more Zentraedis converged on him now.

Rick noticed something, though, they seemed to be in competition…rather than use their numbers against him, each of them seemed to be fighting one another for the honour of getting rid of the micronian.

Which meant that none of them were going to succeed.

At least…that was the plan.

* * *

Forty of the most excruciating minutes ever had passed for Lisa, during which she must have tried to reach Rick nearly a hundred times.

"Sir?" She turned to Gloval now, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice.

Gloval looked worried, his forefingers tented under his chin. "What was his last recorded position?"

Vanessa looked over from the thread board. "Sector forty-eight, latitude twenty-six point ninety-one, longitude fifty point seventy-nine. Middle of the Iran Gulf sir, except there's no water there anymore."

"The Zentraedi ship is still there?" Gloval got to his feet and walked over to stand behind her.

"Yes sir, but I can't get any readings from within the ship…it's blocking our signals. But Lieutenant Hunter's Veritech hasn't left the area, unless it was during one of the electromagnet bursts…but those only last for a few seconds, so I don't think he could have."

Gloval nodded. "All right then, Lisa, call in, Fokker."

* * *

"OK, on a scale of one to ten how embarrassed should I be next time Vince and Jean come on over?"

"Aww, come on, it wasn't **that** bad," Roy put an arm around her shoulders.

Claudia had had a nice hot shower, which had done a lot to clear her head, but she still had **no** idea what had set her off like that. Much like before she no longer felt the least bit sick, so she could hardly blame her behaviour on that.

"I mean, God knows, if you didn't yell at me every so often I'd wonder what was wrong."

"Hey," Claudia made a show of annoyance. "I can yell at you a lot more than often if you're not careful."

"That's my girl!" Roy cheered and then before she could retort tickled her side.

Claudia shrieked, she was ridiculously ticklish and could hardly stay on the couch as she tried to pull his hands away.

Thankfully, the phone rescued her from further embarrassment.

"Fokker," Roy answered.

Claudia smirked and briefly considered tickling Roy, just to show him who was boss, but he got a rather serious look on his face.

"Be right there."

He hung up the phone and leapt to his feet in the same movement.

"What's up?"

"It's Rick, he hasn't come back from his mission yet."

"Oh no…he couldn't be in **too** much trouble, could he? There's nothing out there."

Roy gave a small shrug. "Not that anyone else found, but knowing Rick…"

Claudia couldn't resist a small smile, she knew Rick's ability to get into trouble, no doubt about it.

"**You** better be careful though," she wagged a finger at him. "I don't want to have to nurse you to health, you'd be the worst patient ever."

Roy gave her a quick kiss, but didn't get a chance for a retort, if Rick was in trouble he needed help sooner rather than later.

Claudia leaned back against the couch with a sigh, now she was alone, which only an hour ago was what she'd wanted.

Now, not so much, especially if Roy was going into a potentially dangerous situation…

Still, one had to look at the positives she supposed and there was one…

There were still pastries left and she could finally have one.

* * *

"You think he found anything out there, Lisa?"

Lisa's face on the comm. screen was worried. "We haven't been able to get any readings on the inside of the ship, he might just be collecting samples…"

She sounded pretty skeptical, and Roy had to agree with her, the mission briefing hadn't said anything about collecting samples from dead Zentraedis, as if anyone would want to.

Skull One was soaring towards Rick's last known position, Roy sent out calls over the comm. net every so often, but there was no response, obviously Rick was still inside the Zentraedi ship for whatever reason.

Roy was rather annoyed that Gloval had decided to wait before searching, he knew **why** of course, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Plus even flying at nearly atmospheric level it was still almost an hour before the ship Rick had gone to investigate was in sight.

"Skull Leader to SDF-1, target in sight," he reported, "nothing suspicious on the outside. Detectors aren't able to penetrate the hull."

"Roger, Skull-Leader," Lisa's voice was tight. "You may enter the vessel at your discretion."

Roy considered being completely **indiscreet**, but figured if some aliens had managed to survive in there and had Rick at gun-point, that'd probably just get his little brother killed.

So, discretion it was.

As he brought Skull One in for a landing in Guardian mode, he spotted the hole Rick had made to get in.

Transforming into Battloid, he headed through the hole and almost immediately lost radio contact with the SDF-1.

He hoped that'd he at least be able to make contact with Rick over the tac net.

"Skull One to Vermillion One, come in?"

There was burst of static, but that was it.

Not too far away, though, Roy was certain that he heard the sound of a metal being torn and indistinguishable shouts in the distance.

Without bothering to try and raise Rick again, Roy converted into Guardian mode so he could sneak up on the fray.

The ship was like a maze, walls had been torn and bent out of shape blocking corridors here and there, but Roy still had to wonder how Rick had managed to get himself so deeply inside the ship.

Skull One's radar finally managed to pick up a weak signal from Vermillion One, unfortunately before Roy could put the lead out, a Zentraedi appeared from out of nowhere landing on top of the cockpit canopy.

Fortunately, the canopy held up, although a couple of cracks appeared.

"Shit!"

In a second he'd managed to bring up the barrel of his Gatling gun and blow a rather nasty hole through the Zentraedi in question. The force of the blast was enough to send the alien flying off and colliding against a wall.

His cover blown, Roy converted to Battloid and made a break for Rick's position to find his little brother trying to fight off a number of Zentraedi.

"Shit," Roy cursed again, the aliens were too close to Rick for Roy to fire his Gatling at them, hand to hand contact would have to do.

"Roy!" Rick's voice finally came over the tac net.

"What the Hell is this, Rick?" Roy demanded as he managed to grab one of the Zentraedi and ram his head into the wall, knocking him unconsciously instantly.

"These guys are insane!"

"Obviously," Roy rolled his eyes as he grabbed hold of another Zentraedi, Rick delivered a right cross and that was another alien down.

Finally, the two were able to escape the Zentraedi cruiser, although a few of the Zentraedi had regained consciousness and fired shots after them.

"SDF-1 this is Skull One, Vermillion One has been found, returning to base now."

Lisa's relieved face appeared on screen. "Thank God! What happened?"

"Got into a bit of scrape," Rick replied, his image appearing in the other screen – sounding a bit defensive in Roy's opinion. "What took you so long?"

Lisa looked affronted. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant, we're running a small force here, we had to be certain you were in trouble..."

Rick gave a snort and looked as if he was going to reply and say something he might regret.

Roy decided to spare his little brother that. "Crisis averted, though, we better make sure that everyone knows that any downed Zentraedi cruisers might contain hostiles."

Lisa gave a curt nod. "Roger. Keep us informed of your progress back."

"Roger," Roy returned with a salute.

Then he turned to Rick. "Hey, Little Brother, how about keeping your foot out of your mouth?"

"What?"

"Lisa was worried about you, it's not her fault a bunch of Zentraedi decided to blame you for their defeat."

Rick, at least had the enough awareness to look a little embarrassed. "Well, OK, I shouldn't have bitched her out, but seriously, I almost **died** there! It's not as if I could make any radio contact. What the Hell were they waiting for?"

Roy shrugged. "You're the only pilot who found anything out there, chances were you'd run out of fuel."

"When do these things **ever** run out of fuel?" Rick raised an eyebrow.

"There's a first time for everything," Roy replied with a smirk.

* * *

Rico, Konda and Bron were keeping things low-key, for them, at least. Most of the residents of Macross City were preparing for the time when they could offload – **finally **- from the SDF-1, but a few incidents of violence against the defecting Zentraedi had been reported.

The attacks had been thoroughly condemned of course, but that didn't put the Zentraedi Defectors any more at ease.

Vanessa, Sammie and Kim had agreed to meet with them after their shift ended, so the three were on their way to the military sector.

The view outside the observation windows was all the same, sheets and sheets of rain. According to the MBS news the rain would continue possibly for the rest of the year. All ready the crater the SDF-1 had created on its landing was beginning to fill with water, the ship was adequately sealed, but it was possible that the crater would fill to the top, half submerging the battle fortress.

The guards standing at the gate to the military sector gave the three of them looks of barely concealed contempt.

Konda though, decided to be friendly. "Hello, we're here to meet Lieutenants Leeds, Porter and Young."

One of the guards gave a grunt. "Sure, whatever."

"Um…how are you today?" Bron spoke up, trying out that micronian quirk of language 'small talk'.

The guards looked at each other, then back at Bron, not bothering to answer.

"I'm well, no injuries." Bron continued.

"Well, isn't that nice?" One of the guards spoke up with a sneer. "My buddy didn't make that last battle, but at least you Zentraedi are all right."

Rico, Konda and Bron looked at each other.

"Sorry?" Rico ventured.

"I don't need apologies from **you**, alien," the guard snarled. "Just don't try and be friendly now that you've lost. Some people might be stupid enough to trust you, but I know better. One wrong step…" his voice trailed off and he gestured with his gun.

The three Zentraedis gulped, and hurried past before things could get any uglier.

"What was that?" Bron asked looking over his shoulder. "We haven't fought for fifty-five lon!"

"The humans are angry at us," Rico replied slowly, "I suppose it's only natural…Zentraedi **did** all but wipe out their planet."

"Yes, but **we** weren't involved." Bron protested.

Konda shrugged. "That's probably the way some humans are I suppose..."

The three soon forgot all their worries when the doors to the Command Centre of the SDF-1 slid open and Sammie, Kim and Vanessa hurried out, throwing their arms around Rico, Konda and Bron respectively.

"How are you boys going?" Vanessa asked, adjusting her glasses.

"Great!" Bron decided not to bring up the soldiers at the gate. "How about you? Did you find any Zentraedi out there?"

The girls exchanged looks.

"One of the pilots did," Sammie began slowly, "but they weren't very friendly."

"Oh," Bron shared a frown with Rico and Konda.

"But we didn't search everywhere," Kim spoke up, "so…who knows and the survivors are probably shell-shocked, so maybe it's for the best we don't find them right away. So they can…calm down."

The three Zentraedi exchanged looks this time, not entirely sure about that, most Zentraedi were unsurprisingly, violent and it seemed that if Minmei's song and their sound defeat hadn't got through to them, nothing would.


	54. Chapter 54

"_We'll rebuild…the human race has always rebuilt…and as the Zentraedi are basically identical to us, they will rebuild too. But to what purpose? We can only hope for the best."_ Remark attributed to Dr Emil Lang

* * *

Azonia was impressed with Khyron.

Not that she would ever say so out loud, she knew that her troops would never understand. She didn't quite understand herself.

Khyron still drove her to almost insane rage, just a lon ago she had been severely tempted to smash his head through a wall. But at the same time, she rather enjoyed their verbal battles. Especially seeing as that was the only kind of battles they were going to have any time soon.

Soft yet solid flakes of water had started falling in the last two lon and had not let up. Whatever it was, it was slowly but surely burying their ships underneath it.

"Will we survive Yiata?" She asked her Advisor.

Yiata looked thoughtful, studying some readouts on the one working computer. "It doesn't have sufficient mass to crush the ship, my lady, but if enough it fell…"

Azonia waved aside the concern.

"And where is Khyron?"

Yiata looked displeased at her question, or at least as displeased as she could without incurring Azonia's wrath. "He's down in the Male Sector."

Azonia raised an eyebrow. "A bit more specific, Yiata, that's a quarter of the ship."

At some point over the last three lon, Khyron's ship's life support had starting failing. It had presented quite an opportunity…Khyron could have gone to one of his other ships, several had survived, but each was overcrowded, as whole sectors of them were uninhabitable.

Azonia on the other hand, had room on her ship and the thought of having Khyron in her debt…

Yiata shifted uncomfortably. "He seems to have set up a small area for his quarters, my lady, I imagine he is there."

Azonia gave a nod and wondered…so far she and Khyron had met on what could be termed as 'neutral ground' the small conference room towards the back of the cruiser. She wondered how he would react if she went to these makeshift quarters of his.

As if sensing what she was thinking, Yiata asked. "Are you not still furious with him, my lady? He was disgusting to you last lon."

Azonia smirked. "He was, the ingrate, after we've taken him and his men in and given them shelter."

Yiata gave a small jerky nod. "It was very good of us, my lady…do you think it was wise?"

Azonia leaned back in here chair. "I think so, Yiata, we loyal Zentraedi are now almost a spent force…the only way we can survive is to band together, even if it **is** with Khyron."

Yiata sighed.

"Does my decision bother you?" Azonia asked, an edge to her tone.

Yiata pushed back her thick red hair and stammered. "N-n-no of course not, my lady. It is difficult though, knowing males are here…on our ship."

Somehow, Azonia was not that bothered…she actually found it exhilarating, seeing as they outnumbered the males three to one. But Yiata was an Advisor and therefore less brave then a superior warrior like herself.

"Don't let it worry you, Yiata, we shall keep our contact with the males to a minimum and all things considered…they can do most of the work for us." Azonia grinned. The ship was in state of complete disarray from the impact of the controlled crash. There'd been a time a nos ago, Azonia's ship had been struck and everything not secured down had been thrown about. She had been forced to put her troops to work, in order to return it to a decent state.

This time though…they had males to do that job for them.

* * *

Roy woke to hear the sound of Claudia gagging.

"Dinner wasn't that bad was it?" He attempted a bit of humour as he opened his eyes.

Claudia appeared with a wet towel wiping her face and she was **not** amused. "Ha ha, very funny. By the way, if I remember right the last time you threw up you were practically in tears."

Roy sat up throwing back the bedcovers. "Slander!"

Claudia gave a smirk. "It's not slander…its libel, and that's only if it isn't true."

Roy put an arm around her. "Seriously though…I didn't **actually** poison you did I? I feel fine."

Claudia shook her head. "I think I've just got a bug or something."

Roy wasn't a hundred precent sure of that. "I don't think any virus could have survived what happened to this planet."

"Probably not," Claudia sat back down on the bed, continuing to wipe her face. "But there's still more than enough germs in Macross City."

Roy tapped his bottom lip and watched as his wife lay back down, putting the wet cloth to her forehead. "Maybe we should call Jean in, she's a doctor, and I know you two love your gossip."

Claudia peeked out from under the cloth. "I don't need Jean to gossip with, you do a good job yourself."

"The libel continues!" Roy gasped. Then grinned. "You heard what the Bridge Bunnies and those Zentraedi spies got up to last night, didn't you?"

"Is it suitable for children?"

"Of course! Are you suggesting those fine girls would take advantage of those poor innocent Zentraedi?"

Claudia laughed, shook her head and then looked as if she immediately regretted it. Roy backed up a bit, he wasn't too good in these situations.

"Hero of the war," Claudia rolled her eyes.

"Hey, some people are squeamish over certain things, I seem to recall something about rotten fruit –"

"Oh stop!" Claudia groaned, "I'm nauseous enough all ready."

Roy sat down on the bed beside her. "So yeah, want me to bring in the reinforcements?"

Claudia sighed. "Oh, I suppose…"

Roy wasted no time calling up Jean and Vince, who were living somewhere off base for the time being since Vince wasn't considered part of the Robotech Defence Force just yet.

"Of course I can give Claudia a check up," Jean replied. "I suppose the medical centres are pretty busy?"

"Overcrowded," Roy confirmed. It had been a good two weeks since the final battle and there was no shortage of injuries.

"Righto then, I'll bring my medical kit, got the whole nine yards here."

"You doctors and your golf," Roy rolls his eyes.

Jean smirked. "Watch it."

"I'm on duty, so I won't be here, but you can get in, just give the door camera a wave…Or failing that, pound on the door, Claudia's a light sleeper."

Jean gave a nod, before Vince appeared on the monitier. "What does duty hold for you today?"

"Mostly overseeing repair work, we're trying to get as many Veritechs as possible back in service. If nothing else they need a new coat of sealant, weather being what it is, they're gonna rust right through."

"Need an engineer?" Vince asked.

"Hell yeah, you volunteering?"

"Of course, I should put these skills to good use wouldn't you say?"

Roy nodded. "But I'd recommend staying off the military list officially, if you don't want to be worked like dog."

Vince laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."

"I'll pick you up and we'll head on over to the _Prometheus_," Roy told him, then turned to Jean and spoke in a whisper. "Be careful, Claudia can get into quite a mood these days."

Vince laughed. "What do you mean **these **days?"

* * *

"Seloy is gone?" Maximillian's eyebrows rose so high they almost disappeared. "Where?"

Miriya shrugged, and tossed her hair over one shoulder. "To find surviving Zentraedi, Rick found some after all."

"Male ones," Maximillian remind her. "And how did she get out?"

"Well, it's not as if we could keep her here, not without force…your doctors were kind enough not to do so."

"Has she healed completely?"

Miriya shrugged. "She felt that she was recovered enough."

Maximillian frowned and even though he was asking her questions she couldn't answer, Miriya appreciated that he was concerned for her fellow warrior. More than appreciative…she was 'touched' as the micronian's would say.

She put her hand over his. "Thank you for your concern, I know that not every soldier is quite so worried about the status of the enemy."

Maximilian leaned over and brushed a strand of hair from her face. "The Zentraedi aren't enemies, not anymore. And I know that you've been worried about Seloy."

"It is strange," Miriya spoke. "But at the same time…even before coming into contact with micronian culture I think I…cared about what happened to her. If I did not see Seloy immediately after a mission was completed I would wonder what had happened, if she had met her end. I would tell myself that if she had it would be for the glory of the Zentraedi, but at the same time…I hoped she would be alive."

Maximillian looked curious. "A lot of the military psychologists seem to be under the impression Zentraedi had no concept of 'friendship', but from what you've just said and what the three Zentraedi spies have told us, I think that's wrong."

Miriya gave a wry smile. "Well, we certainly didn't go out to dinner or hug or any of those things that micronians do with friends. Perhaps it was more a case of…what's that word? Cammeraderie?"

"You're certainly worried about Seloy now though?"

She nodded. "I am, I asked her to wait, said I would accompany her, but she said that would be a bad decision. My old troops...wouldn't welcome me back with open arms."

Maximillian gave her one of his gentle smiles that always made her feel better. "She may be right. Hopefully…the surviving Zentraedi might agree to come forward peacefully."

Miriya leaned across the table to kiss her husband. He looked at her happily, it was rare that she showed him affection in public. "You're very optimistic, but I'm not so certain."

"A lot of Zentraedi have managed to put aside their instincts for fighting…why don't you think these ones will?"

Miriya shrugged. "It's just a feeling I have. Even though Azonia sided with us in the last minute, I am sure, if she has survived, she will not agree to live in peace. As for Khyron…I don't think he's able to stop fighting."

Maximillian nodded. "Still, the situation here might change their minds, you have no engineers and their ships are probably damaged… how long can they survive like that?"

"I don't know, but that doesn't mean they will come with white flags out… that's not the Zentraedi way, I'm sure many would rather go to their deaths knowing they'd never succumbed to such unwarlike behaviour as asking for help."

Maximillian sighed, and she knew what he was thinking. The same thing she was, would those Zentraedi be content to die with quiet dignity in that case, or would they want to take as many micronians as they could with them?

Thomas Riley Edwards was finally declared as fit to be discharged from hospital.

It was a little earlier then it would have been in ideal circumstances, but the hospital was completely overcrowded and the quicker they could discharge patients, the better.

Edwards wasn't particularly looking forward to this, he wasn't sure what would be more distasteful, having to stay on the base with those traitors the Robotech Defence Force or live in Macross City like some civilian and possibly having to mingle with one of those damn Zentraedi Defectors.

However, his new look would certainly not inspire pointless small talk from civilians or military, over his right eye he now sported an eye patch. Most people wouldn't be able to pull the look off, but for Edwards…He flattered himself that it made him look even more dangerous.

The nurse, a leggy brunette who had been either oblivious or uninterested in his advances arrived to change the sheets of his bed before he'd even left.

"Can't wait to be rid of me then?"

The nurse didn't deny it, but said in neutral tone. "We need this bed, sir, no comment on your character."

Edwards smirked, he was sure she didn't like him, but that didn't bother him, she wasn't really his type anyway. He did consider giving her butt a slap as he left, but decided not to risk it, Gloval probably ran a tight ship.

Speaking of Gloval…

He was surprised to find two people waiting for him.

And not just any people. Colonels Maistroff and Caruthers.

"General Edwards," the former greeted him, "I'm relieved you've recovered."

Edwards gave them a twisted grin. "I'm sure you are…although I'm unable to extend the best wishes of the Council."

The two Colonels looked slightly uncomfortable.

"Let's not beat around the bush," Edwards continued. "You two have something to say to me?"

"Well, mostly we came to express our relief," Caruthers scratched his cheek in a nervous manner. "But also – "

"Because I'm not part of the Cult of Gloval?" Edwards guessed.

Maistroff, more forthright then Caruthers nodded and stepped closer to Edwards. "Gloval has allowed the aliens to join forces with us, not only that, but any alien survivors are to be **spoken** with, even those that continue to attack us."

"It's disgusting," Caruthers added.

Edwards honestly didn't care one way or another for the Zentraedi so far as simple xenophobia went, but the fact they'd all but destroyed the planet made them enemies no matter what a small number of them did. Beyond that, Edwards was certain the aliens would return to their ways sooner or later, he wanted to be prepared for when they did. Maistroff and Caruthers sure as Hell weren't his favourite people, in fact both of them had an incredible ability to bore the shit out of anyone.

But they were against the enemy and that was the important thing.

Gloval would end up hoisted by his own partard, Edwards was sure, and once he was there'd be a powerful position available.

And Edwards wanted that position.

If he had to ally himself with two idiots, he was prepared to do that.

* * *

Lisa was deep in thought.

It was November 20th, in two days, it would be Rick's birthday.

She hadn't really paid attention to it before, but now she wanted to get him something. Something that would…well…make him realise she wasn't the old sourpuss anymore.

Rick confused her more than anything else ever had in her life. On the one hand he could be unbelievably sweet to her, but then not a day later he could be a complete jerk!

Of course, Lisa had to admit she wasn't the easiest person to get along with either, but at least she was generally consistent. She wondered how Rick would react if she kissed him one minute, then shouted at him the next?

But none of this was important, she needed to get Rick a gift, something he'd like.

What would he like though?

She knew he enjoyed model planes, but she was pretty sure his Big Brother would have that base covered.

And she knew he **loved** Minmei, but it'd be a cold day in Hell before Lisa got him Minmei's latest album.

Looking out her window she smiled wryly, the entire world was desolate and it was pouring…so perhaps that old idiom wasn't so unlikely anymore.

"OK, Hayes…think," she tried to rally herself, getting to her feet and pacing, which always helped clear her head.

But a perfect present for the exasperating Rick Hunter eluded her… Not that she was particularly good at giving gifts anyway. Even when it came to Karl…she still flushed with embarrassment when she remembered the first gift she'd given him. An antique military dagger…to a **pacifist**. He'd been nice about it, but it was clear it hadn't been top of his wish list.

However, Lisa knew there was someone out there who could help her, someone who was a pro at reading people.

Claudia.

She hurried to her phone and dialled her friend's number.

"Hello?"

"Claudia, I need your help, Rick's birthday's coming up and –"

"Sorry, this is Jean…is that Lisa?"

Lisa blushed, this is what she got for not turning on the screen. "Yes it is, sorry, Jean, you and Claudia…"

"We sound alike on the phone, I know, I tease Vince about it all the time." Jean gave a laugh.

"Is Claudia there?"

"She is, she's just indisposed –"

"OK, here's your sample…damnit woman, I hate giving those things." Lisa heard Claudia's voice in the background.

"Phone for you," Jean said, "it's Lisa."

"Hey friend!" Claudia's voice greeted her.

"Sample?" Lisa had forgotten all about Rick and his birthday. "A sample of what?"

She could practically hear Claudia rolling her eyes. "Urine."

"Claudia!"

"What, you asked!"

"I suppose…but why are you even giving a urine sample, you're not sick are you?"

"God only knows, but Jean's here to solve the mystery. So tell me, why'd you ring? Tell Auntie Claudia all about it."

Lisa was still curious, but she decided not to pry. "It's Rick…his birthday's in two days –"

"Is it? Roy never tells me these things, he's probably forgotten."

"Yes, well…I want to get him a gift, something…nice."

"Nice? Hmm how 'bout you in a bow?"

"Claudia!"

"C'mon Lisa! You've got to be adventurous!"

"I'm **not** going to give Rick Hunter a strip tease or whatever you want to call it. I want to give him something that makes it clear he's a friend to me."

Claudia sighed. "Okay, okay…why don't you come over…it's easier to discuss this sort of thing, face to face."

"Sure, but what about Jean?"

"She can join us! If you think I'm diplomatic –"

"I don't."

"Ahem…Jean is the Queen of Diplomacy, she can show the both of us a thing or two."

Lisa couldn't resist laughing at Claudia's haunty tone. "I'll be right over!"

* * *

Jean was still doing a few tests when Lisa Hayes arrived.

Jean had never met Lisa before, but she'd heard quite a bit from Vince, and of course, knew about her being the famous Admiral Hayes's daughter.

From all she'd been told though, she'd been expecting someone cool, calm and collected, but the woman who entered seemed to be in a state of excitement and couldn't sit still.

"C'mon, Lisa, you're making me motion sick here," Claudia complained after Lisa had been pacing for a good five minutes.

Lisa stopped, raising an eyebrow. "When have you **ever** been motion sick?"

"Whatever, it's an excuse, sit down." Claudia reached out and grabbed her friend's hand pulling her down next to her. "Now, look, you're making more of a deal out of this then I would out of Roy's birthday…and I'm married to him!"

Lisa had crossed her legs, but her left leg was jittering. "But you're good at this sort of thing, I'm not! I don't want to get him something that's stupid…or will say more than I want to say."

Claudia raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "What would be more than you want to say? You're in love with him!"

"I don't want him to know that! I want to him know that I care, that's all."

Claudia heaved a sigh and gave Jean a despairing look. "Why not just tell the truth? What's the worst that could happen?"

Lisa stared at Claudia as if she was insane. "What's the **worst**? He could laugh his head off! Or be totally disgusted! Or run off into Minmei's arms!"

"Or," Claudia spoke in a reasonable tone, "he could say he loves you too."

"I don't think so…Roy would have said something to you if his 'little brother' was in love with me and he hasn't has he?"

Claudia shrugged. "No, but I'm not sure that mean anything…you know how men are, they don't sit around like this discussing **feelings** and things like that."

Lisa remained unconvinced.

Jean offered to make tea for them all, since she had a feeling that Lisa might be uncomfortable spilling her guts completely with her there.

The last test would take a few moments anyway.

When she returned with the tea though, it didn't look as if much headway had been made.

"I can't get him **clothes**, Claudia, how am I supposed to know what size he is? I'll look like a stalker!"

Claudia shook her head and gave Jean a pleading look.

She smiled and turned to Lisa. "Well, I'm sure if you got him a coat or something –"

"No clothes," said Lisa, stubbornly.

"How about aftershave?"

"Claudia! He'll think I'm trying to tell he's got BO! If not why do I care what he smells like."

Claudia threw up her hands. "I can't help you if you're going to shoot down every idea I give you! How about chocolate then? Or at least whatever food is his favourite, I can ask Roy."

For once Lisa paused and thought this suggestion through. "It still seems…impersonal."

"You said everything else was **too** personal!"

"It was!"

Claudia rubs her forehead. "Maybe you can do him a favour or something."

"What the Hell does that mean?" Lisa looked utterly horrified.

"I'm not suggesting some sort of…prostitution thing…I meant…something like…cooking him dinner, or taking him out for a night of dancing. Or helping him write Christmas cards, whatever."

Lisa seemed to be considering this suggestion.

Jean meanwhile went to check her tests.

There wasn't any infection, so that was good.

No sign of red or white blood cells.

No evidence of kidney stones either.

She came to the last test, she'd been considering this since Claudia had first starting acting strange.

Positive.

"You don't think that'll give him the wrong idea?" Lisa was asking. "Like…I'm too cheap to buy him something?"

"No, of course not, I mean if you take him out dancing or for dinner you'll pay won't you?"

"Well, I assume…it's a birthday present…"

"There you go!"

"Uh, Claudia," Jean spoke up.

"Huh? Oh sorry, Jean, did you want milk with that?" She gestured to Jean's tea which sat untouched.

"No, I mean…yes, but that's not what's important, the tests are back."

Claudia frowned. "What, is there a problem?"

"Well, not really…at least I don't think it is…"

"Don't dance around the bush, Jean…give it to me straight," Claudia exchanged a look with Lisa, but it was obvious neither woman had any idea what the test results could say.

"You're pregnant."


	55. Chapter 55

"_We can repair the world." _Popular saying after the Global Civil War

* * *

Roy was just dropping in the latest report on the status of the Veritechs when he was unlucky enough to run right in TR Edwards.

He hadn't seen the man since he'd brought him in, the guy looked pretty much like his old self, except of course for the eye patch.

"Fokker," Edwards grinned at him, but it was more the smile predator gave to prey.

"Edwards," Roy nodded and noticed that Colonels Maistroff and Caruthers were with Edwards. And he hadn't thought the guy could get any creepier.

"What's that then?" Edwards gestured to the electronic board Roy was holding.

"Just statistics on the Veritechs," Roy answered shortly, he didn't really want to a long conversation here.

"Ah yes, the Veritechs, fine models of engineering and technological brilliance, too bad we were only left with twenty-four of them."

Roy really didn't have anything to say to that…what could he say? The UEG hadn't done itself any favours and the only reason for Roy to feel bad about it was the rest of the planet had suffered for it.

"Well, I just got to drop this in –"

"I hear you're married now, Fokker," Edwards said, the change in subject a surprise to Roy.

"Yeah," he took a look at Maistroff and Caruthers who didn't make eye contact; they seemed utterly uncomfortable with the whole thing.

"Who's the lucky woman?"

Roy had the distinct feeling that Edwards was trying to get a rise out of him. "Claudia Grant, you probably met her –"

"Grant?" Edwards smirked. "Oh, of course, very popular on Macross."

Roy rolled his eyes, oh come on, that was pathetic, seriously.

"Yeah, well…have a nice time…Colonels," he gave them a sufficient salute and got headed for the Administration sector.

But Edwards was on heels.

"Never pegged you for the marrying kind, Fokker."

"Well, hey, people change," Roy didn't bother to look over his shoulder at the guy as he patched into the SDF-1's mainframe and began uploading information.

"So what are you going to do now, settle down behind a picket fence?"

"What business is it of yours, Edwards?"

"Just curious, Fokker, you never **were** the ambitious type."

His uploading finished, Roy turned to face the guy. "Your point?"

"I just mean…not everyone left behind is in league with Gloval."

Roy furrowed his brow; why the Hell would Edwards even say that? He had to wonder if Edwards had some sort of head injury seeing as he wasn't making any sense.

"And what's **that** supposed to mean?"

"Just a comment…the UEG may be gone, but who knows how the world will end up."

With that he walked off.

Roy shook his head. Edwards had gone nuts, well, **more** nuts. Roy couldn't say he was all that surprised.

* * *

"What?"

Lisa looked as stunned as Claudia felt.

"Pregnant," Jean picked up the test and brought it over. "Positive for hCG…we're looking at about forty-seven thousand, nine hundred and twenty milli-international units per millilitre."

"Which means…what?" Lisa found her voice before Claudia did.

"You're at least six weeks pregnant."

Lisa leaned back against the couch. "Wow."

Jean looked at Claudia. "Are you all right?"

Claudia blinked a few times. "You're sure about this right?"

"It's pretty conclusive, you should get a blood test, but a hCG count this high…" Jean frowned. "Is there a problem?"

"Uh…not exactly, I suppose, I mean I want kids…but I'm an officer, and we're kind of in a…situation here…I can't just….jump ship."

Lisa sat up and patting her shoulder. "Come on Claudia, it's not like you have to spend nine months in bed or something."

"I know, but it just…it seems like a really bad time."

"Well there's never a perfect time for this sort of thing," Jean gave her cajoling smile. "But hey, all things considered, we kind of need to repopulate the planet."

Claudia stared at Jean for a second or two, before beginning to giggle, she couldn't help it… it wasn't really the best joke, or a good joke at all, but the comment struck her as simply hilarious.

"Are you all right?" Lisa was looking at her as if she'd lost her mind.

Claudia took a deep breath and got a hold of herself. "I'm fine, it was just…Jean, you sounded like a bad 50s sci-fi movie there."

"I'm not too far off," Jean shrugged. "Besides, knowing you you'll work until your water breaks."

"I think you're confusing me with Lisa," Claudia grinned at her friend. "Any excuse to get out of work will do for me."

Lisa frowned. "Well don't jump ship **too** quickly, we do need you."

Claudia shook her head, sometimes Lisa just couldn't take a joke.

"So!" Jean got to her feet with some excitement, clapping her hands together. "When are you going to share the big news?"

"What big news?" The question took all three ladies by surprise, since none of them said it... "Oh hey, Lisa."

"Er…hi," Lisa gave Roy a rather nervous look.

Roy raised an eyebrow at her. "You all right?"

"Fine!" Lisa jumped to her feet and ran over to Jean, grabbing hold of her arm. "We should go…"

Jean looked slightly confused, but at a tug on her arm from Lisa she picked up her medical kit and followed her out the door, which slid closed.

"Weird," Roy gave a shrug and turned back to Claudia. "So what's up?

Claudia patted the couch beside her. "You might want to sit down."

Roy did but continued looking at her like she was just a little bit nuts.

"Did they put something in the water?" He finally asked. "Because I just had a totally messed up conversation with Edwards. Not that I'd expect anything more from him, but now…"

"I'm pregnant."

"You're what now?"

"Pregnant," she repeated.

Roy blinked.

Opened his mouth…then blinked again.

"You are?"

"Yeah."

Claudia wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting, but Roy gave a loud whoop which almost made her fall off the couch.

He grabbed her hands and pulled her too her feet and whirled them around the room.

"Hey, hey…morning sickness, please!" Claudia finally managed to get out with a laugh.

Roy kindly stopped spinning her around and Claudia flopped down on the couch with no small amount of relief.

"We've gotta have a party!"

Claudia raised an eyebrow. "A party?"

"A Target party! Military tradition," Roy flops down next to her on the couch. "My dad had one, Pops Hunter had one, good times he said."

"I'm sure; you just want a party, don't you?"

Roy grinned. "Who doesn't?"

"Well, we are mopping up after a war here."

"We can't be on twenty-four hours a day…well...at least we can't when there isn't anyone shooting at us. Come on…Gloval could use a break."

"So…we're doing this for the benefit of the Captain now?"

"Him and everyone else…well not Maistroff and Caruthers, they could bring a party down just by looking in the door."

He reached for the phone.

"Hey, what, you're doing it now?"

"Well, yeah…"

"Don't you know anything about this sort of thing?"

Roy gave her a blank look; it was rather obvious he didn't.

"You really shouldn't jump the gun on these things…usually you don't tell anyone until three months."

Roy was looking at her as if she was slightly nuts again.

"What?" She folded her arms. "It's true! It's bad luck if you do!"

"Bad luck? What, you're superstitious now a days? Don't tell me we're going to have to…throw salt over our shoulders and watch out for ladders…"

"I'm just **saying**, is all…"

Roy sighed and shrugged. "OK, OK, you're the one carrying the kid; we'll do it your way."

"**Exactly**, so you better pull your weight, mister." Claudia smirked as she wagged a finger at him.

* * *

Lisa was in a state of shock.

She wandered Macross City, or at least the part of it that was habitable in the SDF-1's current configuration, somewhat aimlessly trying to get everything clear in her mind.

She supposed she shouldn't be so stunned, Claudia had mentioned wanting children, so…

Still! It all seemed to be happening so quickly, a little over a month ago Claudia and Roy had been getting married and now…

Lisa shook her head and tried to get her thoughts back in order. She was supposed to be looking for a present for Rick, besides that, it really wasn't her place to speculate about what was going on in Claudia's life.

Especially not when her own was in such a mess!

Lisa went over Claudia's suggestions for presents in her mind, she really wasn't comfortable with the thought of offering a personal service, but then she had no idea what sort of traditional type gift would do either.

She suddenly realised she was walking towards the_ White Dragon_ and just her luck…

Kyle! Lynn Kyle!

Why the Hell was he here? Weren't he and Minmei part of the highlife? In that hotel?

Lisa stopped short, what was she supposed to do now? She really didn't want to speak to Kyle right now, or ever really…

But there wasn't exactly anywhere to hide…maybe the closest alleyway –

"Lisa!"

It was Minmei.

"Uh…hi…"

"How **are** you?!" Minmei was her usual chirpy self. "I want to thank you and everyone for saving us!"

"Thank you…I'll uh…let everyone know –"

"Commander Hayes."

Kyle had come up behind Minmei and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Shouldn't you be working on rebuilding the planet you and your superiors left in ashes?"

"Kyle," Minmei turned to him, looking quite annoyed. "That's not fair."

"Not fair? I'll tell you what isn't fair, the billions of people slaughtered out there because of people like **her**."

"Kyle!" Minmei looked as if she was about to elbow her cousin in the abdomen, which frankly wouldn't have bother Lisa all that much.

"What? You've seen out there," Kyle snarled, "you've seen what they've done."

"I…I have to go," Lisa pointed vaguely towards…somewhere else in the city.

"Sure, run away, the one decent thing about utter destruction. You people can't run away from it like you usually do." Kyle all but spat in Lisa's face before grabbing Minmei's arm. "Let's go."

Minmei gave Lisa an apologetic look before she and her cousin disappeared into the Chinese restaurant.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Lisa hurried on, rethinking her stance…maybe it'd be uncomfortable offering something so personal to Rick, but at least she wouldn't have to face the population of Macross and the possibility of people, who were as angry as Lynn Kyle.

* * *

His 21st birthday…

Ever since he'd joined the RDF, Rick had blocked out the idea of birthdays…it just didn't seem to be worth thinking about, he sure as Hell didn't think he'd ever survive to get this milestone.

But here he was and he really had no idea how to celebrate. Rain was still pouring outside and the surface survivor count hadn't gone up too much either. It seemed kind of…inappropriate to be celebrating.

Rick folded his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling, he usually didn't lie about and pine, at least not since Max and Miriya had moved next door, he'd never noticed before how pathetically thin the metal walls in the base were.

At least he only had to hear what was going on in the kitchen and living area.

Right now though the happy couple had got up and Miriya was trying her hand at cooking again. Rick had to admire her tenacity, if he'd caused that many kitchen disasters he sure as hell wouldn't be keeping at it.

"Wait, Miriya, wait..." Max spoke hurriedly and there was the sound of something clicking and pots rattling. "There you go…what are you doing anyway?"

"I want to make this."

Max gave a low whistle. "That's…pretty ambitious."

"Isn't that what birthdays are all about? And Rick is your very good friend…"

Rick decided that he shouldn't listen to anything more…obviously Miriya was trying to surprise him.

Rick had to admit that if she managed to make a decent cake he would be!

He threw on his running clothes, hoping that'd make him more able to face the day when the phone in his quarters rang.

"Hunter?" He answered.

"You've got a call," Corporal Phillips informed him.

"From…?" Rick prompted.

"Ah…your 'little lost friend'," Phillips said after a moment.

Rick cocked an eyebrow, somewhat confused. "Ah…OK then…"

"Rick!"

His heart leapt, he knew that voice, but…it couldn't be…

"Rick, you there? It's me, Minmei."

"Minmei! How...why…what…"

Minmei's giggle trickled down the line. "I'm fine! Happy Birthday!"

Rick was even more shocked, if that was possible. "How'd you know?"

"I asked here and there," Minmei replied he could practically see her winking. "Oh Rick, I'm so glad you got through the battle all right! I've been trying to find you for weeks!"

Rick was a little…confused…how long could it take for her to do that? He finally decided that Kyle must be running interference.

"I'm glad you're all right too, Minmei, that song was amazing."

"Thanks…so look! Do you want to do something?"

Someone could have knocked Rick over with a feather. Minmei, actually asking him out! But then…after everything…believing in miracles wasn't so hard.

"Of course – sure!"

Minmei giggled again. "You're so cute, Rick! I don't have a present for you –"

"Hey that's OK; going out with you is present enough!"

Minmei cooed. "Oh, you're so sweet! I'm not sure what we can do though –"

"We'll think of something," Rick waved that aside, as far as he was concerned, just looking at Minmei was enough. "I'll meet you at the hotel?"

"Oh no…you better make it my Aunt and Uncle's restaurant."

Rick rolled his eyes; obviously they had to avoid the pain in the ass that was Kyle.

"Sure, when?"

"How about twelve o'clock?"

"I'll be there!" Rick practically yelped and immediately felt embarrassed about it, but there wasn't much he could do.

Minmei fortunately just seemed to find it amusing and with a laugh said goodbye.

Rick checked his watch…7:30am

Five hours…it was going to seem like forever.

He decided to get a jog in, just to make the time pass more quickly.

Minmei, he was going to see Minmei.

* * *

"Another balloon please!"

"I don't know how you roped me into this, Fokker," Lisa grumbled, taking a balloon from Claudia, tying the end of it then handing it over to Roy who hung it up from the ceiling.

"Because you're such a **very **good friend," Roy gave her his flirtiest grin. "I mean…we can't let this milestone pass Rick by."

Lisa heaved an annoyed sigh. "My 21st wasn't any big deal."

"Well, of course not, but then you were all ready mature."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lisa planted her hands on her hips.

"What I said…no need to look at me like that."

Lisa hmpfed and turned to Claudia. "How do you put up with him?"

Claudia smirked. "He grows on you."

"So does a fungus."

Roy made a face. "Ewwww…"

Lisa smirked. "What are you? A wimp?"

"I think not, who's the one up the ladder?"

Lisa put her hands on either side of the aforementioned ladder. "That could be changed."

"**Threats**, Hayes? I'm shocked."

"OK you two," Claudia handed the last balloon to Lisa. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were separated at birth, you fight more than siblings."

"Hey I'm just trying to wear her out so she doesn't give Rick a hard time."

"What?!"

"Oh come on, Hayes, you pick on that guy like it's your job or something."

"It's not my fault, he asks for it!"

Roy came down from the ladder, rolling his eyes. "Oh please…"

"Claudia, tell your husband about how annoying men can be."

Claudia grinned. "I've tried, Lisa, believe me, I've tried."

"Why am I listening to this?" Roy tossed up his hands. "You two are just ganging up on me…when you're not threatening serious injury."

Claudia laughed and gave him a swat on the arm. "Stop the dramatics, Fokker and get into the kitchen, didn't you say if I made my pineapple salad you'd do the rest."

"All right, all right…put me to work, you slave drivers." All the same he headed to the kitchenette and started going through the fridge.

Lisa turned to Claudia. "So this is a surprise party? Is that…I mean what if he doesn't like that sort of thing?"

Roy poked his head out of the fridge. "Who doesn't like surprise parties?"

Lisa frowned, she didn't for one. In fact she still recalled her 23rd birthday…

Claudia obviously did too and she couldn't help smiling slightly.

"It's not funny!"

"It'll be fine, Hayes," Roy called over his shoulder. "I know Rick."

"What if he's got other plans…?"

Roy rolled his eyes. "Plans? What other plans?"

Lisa shrugged. "I don't know…"

Claudia put a hand on her shoulder and spoke in a low voice. "Don't worry, Lisa…no-one knows Rick better than Roy, so if he says he'll be here."

Lisa nodded. "I'm just a little nervous is all…"

"About your present?" Claudia prompted.

Lisa shrugged; she didn't want to say not entirely sure Roy was sufficiently out of earshot.

"Don't worry so much Lisa, men hardly notice this sort of thing. As long as you didn't buy him a pair of high heels I'm sure he'll like whatever it is you got him." Claudia grinned.

Lisa managed a small laugh. "Well, I'm not as clueless as all **that.**"

* * *

Rick arrived at the _White Dragon _a full hour early; he just couldn't stay still…

"Rick, m'boy!" Max Lynn greeted him with a wide smile. "Haven't seen you in…months…"

Rick shook the man's hand, and managed not to wince – damn did he have a strong grip. "It's great to see you too Mr. Lynn."

"Call me, Max!"

Rick chuckled slightly, one thing you could say for Mr. Lynn he was enthusiastic; he wondered if that's where Minmei got it from. "Right…Max."

"Rick, hello!" Lena came from the kitchen and enveloped Rick in a warm hug. "You're all right, dear? After everything?"

"I'm fine," he reassured her.

They dragged him over to a table near the kitchen and gave him a serving of rice on the house while they asked him about the past few months, how he was going and if he knew anything about when the SDF-1 would finally be offloaded.

"No-one really knows," Rick remarked on their last question. "Depends how long this rain goes on."

"It's amazing!" Lena shook her head. "I guess this means Earth won't be left completely barren."

"Doesn't look like it, no."

"So! To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?" Max asked.

Rick frowned for a second, he'd have thought that Minmei would have mentioned she was visiting the restaurant to them if no-one else.

"Actually…it's my birthday –"

He didn't get further than that, Max and Lena surrounded him with more hugs and cheering.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-one –"

"Break out the champagne!" Max cheered, hurrying out the back and returning with a bottle.

"There's really no need…"

Max burst the cork and poured a nice bubbling glass and thrust it into Rick's hand, then he poured glasses for himself and Lena.

"To Rick!" He toasted.

"To Rick!" Lena echoed.

They all clinked glasses and Rick took a sip. It wasn't as if he hadn't drunk before, but this was some good champagne, he was touched that they'd been willing to use it in a toast to him.

"And yeah, I'm here to meet Minmei, she called me this morning."

Max and Lena looked at each other smiled. "Minmei's coming here?" Lena asked. "Oh wonderful, we haven't seen her for days! She's been so busy writing a new song, I think, to celebrate the end of the war."

"Well, I'll make sure to share her when she shows up." Rick promised with a grin.

Not too long afterward lunch hour began the restaurant started filling up, Rick offered to help out, but Max and Lena insisted he relax and enjoy another bowl of rice.

At twelve-fifteen Minmei hasn't shown up, but Rick figured she was probably having trouble getting away from the hotel.

He was willing to wait.

* * *

Roy couldn't figure out where the Hell Rick was.

Everything had been set up for the party; Sterling had even reported that Miriya's surprise had turned out looking quite edible, now all the party needed was its guest of honour.

But Rick was nowhere to be found.

Which was weird, because just yesterday when Roy had spoken to his little brother, Rick had mentioned nothing was going on the next day. Roy had slyly suggested that Rick should be grateful not to have to run recon and consider that a birthday present.

Rick had not been amused.

Roy hope he wasn't off sulking somewhere, Roy had the impression that Rick had grown out of that, but maybe he was having a last hurrah.

He checked his watch – twelve forty-five all ready – the party should have started fifteen minutes ago.

He crossed his fingers and hoped the guy at the barrack's desk would have some information.

"Hunter?" Corporal Phillips pursed his lips in thought. "Yeah, he left here a couple of hours ago."

"Did he say where he was headed?"

"Nope sorry," Phillips shook his head, but as Roy turned to leave he added. "But he did get a call before he left…from his 'little lost friend' or something like that."

That in itself wasn't particularly illuminating but the fact the call had been patched through Phillips was…it meant it had to be from the outside.

And there was only one person…really…who Rick knew outside the base.

Minmei.

"Thanks, Phillips," Roy gave the guy a nod, he turning around headed back to his and Claudia's quarters.

As he entered there was suddenly a shout of "Surprise!"

Which was immediately followed by a groan.

"Oh, thanks guys."

"Sorry," Claudia laughed, coming over and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "We were just expecting the birthday boy."

"It seems impolite that he hasn't shown," Miriya spoke up with a frown on her face. "Is it possible he doesn't want my cake? Maximillian assured me the better tasted fine."

"Batter," Sterling corrected her, "and it was. I'm sure this has nothing to do with your cake."

"You're right," Roy nodded. "Miss Macross is behind it."

"You mean…Minmei?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah, apparently she called our birthday boy this morning. I guess he's run out for a rendezvous."

Sterling chuckled. "Well, I guess he couldn't turn down an offer like that."

"I guess he won't be coming then," Lisa spoke quietly, almost to herself.

"Not necessarily," Roy spoke up, "and hey you guys can hang out here…we love company don't we, babe?" He turned to Claudia.

But Lisa was picking up her purse. "I should go…I have…things…to do…"

Roy was about to question that, but Claudia poked him in the side and he kept his mouth shut while Lisa thanked them both and then left.

Well, that was all very strange…


	56. Chapter 56

"_The Micronian lifecycle is indeed a very confusing thing. These things you call 'birth-days', what possible reason could you have for celebrating an accomplishment that was not even yours?" _Remark attributed to Exedore Formo

* * *

Minmei checked her watch and stifled a groan.

Was Kyle ever going to stop **talking **at her?

It was almost one o'clock; Rick would have been waiting for her for an hour now! Of course, some of it was her own fault, she'd meant to leave the hotel at a quarter to twelve but she'd gotten distracted and not noticed the time until it was a quarter **past!**

And as she had leapt to her feet to leave, Kyle had come on in and for the last forty-five minutes had been trying to get her to agree to his idea of conducting a tour as soon as they were allowed to leave the SDF-1. She hadn't realised it was so **late! **Rick had probably given up on her by now and she had so wanted to see him!

On the other hand, he **had** been known to wait for her for a very long time before. She remembered - somewhat embarrassingly - how she had once ran three hours late for a meeting and he'd still been there, waiting patiently.

She couldn't let Rick down, especially since it was his birthday and all, in the short time she'd had after calling him, she'd even got him a gift!

"That's the sort of thing the people need right now, Minmei, an alternative voice someone to say 'Look, we don't need to do what the war-mongers tell us, we can -''' Kyle was saying, gesturing rather wildly at least until she got to her feet and made to leave."Hey, where are you going?"

"I'm sorry, Kyle, but I really have to go, I can't leave my appointment any longer, it's **very **important." She decided not to elaborate any further, it would only anger Kyle.

In fact, he all ready looked quite put-out. "Appointment? What appointment? I haven't scheduled for anything...not yet anyway."

"I know...but this is...private." Minmei winced inwardly, knowing that that was a rather poor explanation and would likely do nothing to get Kyle to let her go.

"Private?" He scoffed, getting to his feet. "Come on now, there's no secrets between us, I'm your manager and your cousin."

"No really, Kyle, this is...um...girl stuff."

Her cousin/manager raised an eyebrow. "Girl stuff?"

"Uh-huh," Minmei drew herself up and did her best to look mature. "It's about my friend...Sheryl; she's got...boyfriend trouble."

"Boyfriend trouble?" Kyle sounded more than a little skeptical; he folded his arms and looked at her as if she were a small child trying to get away with stealing sweets.

"Yeah, so you wouldn't be interested, or, you know, welcome."

"And who is Sheryl, I've never even heard of her before."

Minmei was very tempted to snap _I have a life outside __**you**__, Kyle. Or at least I __**did**__. _

But she knew that would be a very bad idea. "She's a friend from school, we still keep in touch and she really needs my help now."

Kyle kept staring and Minmei did her best to look wholly and completely innocent, opening her eyes wide.

**FINALLY**, her cousin heaved the deepest sigh imaginable, as if Minmei wanting to take some time for herself was the biggest imposition in history. "Oh, all right, if you must, but don't be gone for hours, we have a lot of work to do."

"Oh no, Kyle, I won't be long at all, I promise." _Rick's probably gone anyway_, she thought, despairingly.

Still, she had to try! Lynn Minmei never gave up!

* * *

Rick was rather enjoying spending time with the Lynn family, he had after all spent some weeks with them right at the start of this whole ordeal when the SDF-1 had jumped all the way to edge of the solar system and hadn't been able to get back.

Having said that though, he was also disappointed, hugely disappointed.

Minmei had sounded so sincere on the phone this morning; he couldn't believe she had really and truly stood him up.

Plus, it was getting rather awkward now...Max Lynn had needed to return to the kitchen to prepare for the evening rush and Lena Lynn was doing her best to keep the conversation going, in between answering calls from customers wishing to book a table or a special order.

Unless Rick wanted to polish off the rest of the champagne by himself there really wasn't much point in staying. And while that was starting to become a more and more attractive option as the clock hands moved towards one-thirty, it would hardly be good manners.

"I don't know what could be keeping Minmei," Lena remarked as she returned. "She's never had the best time-keeping skills, but this is quite out of character."

Rick did his best to put on a brave face. "I'm sure she has a very good reason, but..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well...I really have to -"

"Rick!'

Rick turned more than a little stunned and sure he was hearing things.

"Minmei! Darling!" Lena got to her feet and hurried across the dining room to embrace her niece.

"Hi, Auntie," Minmei gave Lena a kiss on the cheek and a warm grin, but her eyes were on Rick.

"Minmei!" Max stuck his head out from the kitchen. "How are you, girl?"

Minmei rushed over to give her uncle a big hug. "I'm great! And mmmm, that smells yummy!"

Max Lynn gave a chuckle. "Prawn and Black bean soup, your favourite, I'll get you a small bowl."

"Oh, thank you! And one for Rick too, of course."

Rick had watched this all unfold somewhat frozen, Minmei was a whirl of activity and was looking utterly stunning in a flouncy red dress.

She turned her attention to him then and hurried over, grabbing hold of one of his hands. "Oh, I'm so glad you waited for me! And I'm so sorry about been late, I completely lost track of time, I hope you don't have to leave right away."

"Of course not," Rick could hardly contain his happiness, in the space of an instant the day had become absolutely everything he could have hoped for. "Sit down," he urged her, remembering his manners. "You look...beautiful."

Minmei giggled as she slid into the chair next to him. "What? This old thing? I've had it for **ages**."

Rick realised that was hardly the most appropriate thing to say, after all it would be nice to think she had taken **some** trouble with her appearance. On the other hand, it was Minmei, she'd look gorgeous in a burlap sack!

Max returned with two steaming bowls of soup. "For the birthday boy and our favourite star," he placed them on the table with a flourish.

"Mmmm," Minmei immediately dug in and licked her lips with relish, looking up at her uncle. "You always manage to make this taste better, Uncle.''

Max looked somewhat embarrassed and waved his hand dismissively. "It's just a simple soup, m'girl, nothing special."

With that he rather tactfully withdrew, which Rick was grateful for, he was more than certain that Minmei would be dashing off sooner rather than later and he wanted to make the most of this opportunity.

"So, how old are you, anyway?" Minmei asked, unembarrassed about admitting such a thing. She giggled and tilted her head, looking up at him appealing. "I'm just terrible with numbers! Sometimes I forget how old **I** am."

Rick could actually believe that, so decided not to be offended. "That's OK, I'm 21."

Minmei clapped her hands together. "Really! Congratulations, Rick! That's a really special number." Her face fell slightly. "The present I got you isn't special at all."

"I thought you said you didn't have a gift?" Rick replied, surprised.

"I didn't," she admitted and shrugged, "but I couldn't meet you without having **something**,it's really last minute though, I hope you won't be too disappointed."

Rick shook his head so hard he almost made himself dizzy. "Of course I won't be any gift from you couldn't be anything less than amazing."

Minmei giggled again, reaching out to swat his arm. "Oh you." She reached into her handbag and pulled out a paper bag covered with texts and images promoting one of her concerts. "I didn't have time to wrap it, either." She added, apologetic.

Rick grinned as he took the bag from her. "Don't worry about it; I'll consider it part of the gift." It did after all have a really nice picture of Minmei on it. Carefully, he unrolled the top and took a look inside.

At first he wasn't entirely sure what it was, only that Minmei hadn't been kidding, it really **was **a small gift. Reaching in carefully he extracted the - was it a charm or something? - and pulled it out into the light.

It was a charm, a tiny silver treble cleft and Rick couldn't for the life of him figure out why Minmei would give it to him. Had she made a mistake?

Minmei had had an expectant look on her face as he'd taken out the gift, but at his look of confusion hastened to explain. "I know it's not much and it's probably not even something you want, but the thing is, that was the first charm I ever got. My parents gave it to me, to represent how much I love singing."

Rick blinked a few times, uncertain about what to say. On the one hand this was clearly a very important thing to Minmei, on the other...well...he didn't know.

"Your parents gave this to you? I...I can't -"

"I want you to have it," Minmei insisted, looking at him with wide eyes. "Because now I'm doing what I love and it's all thanks to you, if you hadn't kept me safe when we were trapped right at the start of all this and then all the other times, well..." She gave a little shrug and ducked her head, suddenly seeming shy.

This time when Rick blinked it was with no small amount of emotion. A lot of people dismissed Minmei as completely flighty with no real sense of the world around her, Hell; Rick himself had made that assumption quite a few times himself. But this gift...well it may not be practical, but it really was priceless.

He reached out and took her hand, giving it a squeeze.

"Minmei...I...wow, this is, I don't know what to say."

And had he had known he would have quickly been at a loss when Minmei looked up at him with a big smile and squeezed his hand back.

* * *

Seloy Deparra would never admit it, but as she had made her way across the barren expanse that was the micronian planet she wondered if she had made a horrible decision, if she was wandering to her death.

She had been certain that she was up to the journey, she was Zentraedi after all, but one of her wounds had reopened almost a lon ago and while it probably wasn't fatal, it was leaving her progressively dizzier.

She wasn't even sure of her direction and was presently leaning against a rock, the cool surface providing some relief and was helping to clear her head. Not for the first time she wondered if she really should have taken Miriya up on her offer to help. But almost as soon as the thought entered her mind, Seloy dismissed it, Miriya would not have been much use out here, micronised as she was and Seloy was certain that any Zentraedi they came across would not take kindly to micronian mecha.

No, Seloy was on her own, which really shouldn't be bothering her as much as it was, Zentraedi were warriors and in the course of battles Seloy had often been by herself and even if the battleship or her squad mates had not been too far she was still alone in her mecha. Reliant only on herself and her skills, it was the Zentraedi way.

Seloy decided it was the planet was causing her disorientation. Aside from a few brief sorties, she had never been planet side before and certainly not outside her mecha. The micronian planet was bizarre to her, for one thing there were periods of light and dark, as the yellow star the planet revolved around crossed the sky to be followed by the moon. Seloy vaguely recalled these periods been called "day" and "night", but she couldn't remember which was which.

Another thing she recalled was talk of Zentraedi warships falling to the planet to the "south" a micronian term of direction roughly equivalent to "downwards", at least which was Seloy's understanding. But now she had the worry that she had got turned around somewhere and was no longer heading that way. As she slumped against the rock a revelation came to her. The yellow star and the moon followed the same path, and they had been moving from her left to her right for a lon now, it had not changed since she had left the micronian ship, so that had to mean she was going the right way.

Her revelation brought a smile to her lips for the first time in many lon, she may be a stranger to this planet and its ways, but she was more than capable of taking care of herself. A true Zentraedi in every sense of the word.

She would rest for a while longer, and then continue on and succeed in her objective.

* * *

Lisa was wandering Macross City rather aimlessly, or as much as one could with the SDF-1 in its battle configuration. Part of her considered returning to Roy and Claudia's, it seemed juvenile in the extreme to have left; after all it **was **Rick's birthday, if he wanted to be late to his own surprise party that was well within his rights. Of course, the fact he was late because he was probably seeing Miss Macross was hard to swallow. Lisa was well aware that she and Rick could not by any stretch of the imagination be considered a couple, Lisa had though hoped that they could move in that direction, not that she had any idea how to achieve that. She tried to recall how she and Karl had become a couple, but specifics eluded her, it just seemed to happen naturally with no effort on her part.

Maybe that was the problem then, should she have to work so hard for this? Obviously, she was probably romanticising thing with Karl a fair bit and relationships **did **need work, but how much was too much? At what point did one accept failure?

'Maybe I just need to accept it now,' she considered, and the thought left her more than a little forlorn. As hard as it was for her to believe, Rick Hunter really had got under her skin and she wasn't about to let him go.

Lisa was so deep in thought she didn't hear the car until it screeched to a stop behind her.

"Commander," the hard voice took her by surprise and she turned, expecting to see that her mind was playing tricks on her and it couldn't possibly be -

"I'm looking for Minmei -" when wasn't he? - "You warmongers better not have called her in to help you restart your propaganda machine."

Lisa raised an eyebrow in disbelief, was he serious? Surely, he had to be joking, not that Lisa could credit Lynn Kyle with anything like a sense of humour.

"Well, answer me," the man all but snarled at her, tempting Lisa to react the way Claudia probably would in such situations, with a barbed comeback.

But she wasn't that sort of woman, even when provoked so instead she merely replied briskly. "I can assure you, Mr Lynn that the military have no 'plans' for your cousin, other than getting her and the rest of Macross City off the SDF-I as soon as it's safe to do so."

Kyle gave a sniff of disdain and then without bothering to respond, not even to thank her for her time, he gunned the gas pedal of the car and tore off down the streets. It occurred to Lisa only then that he shouldn't be driving around in the first place.

If he totaled that car of his he'd only have himself to blame.

Rick had lost track of time, which was easy to do when in Minmei's company, if the hour he had spent waiting for her had dragged on interminably then the half-hour he **had** spent with her so far seemed to rush by in a flash.

The _White Dragon_ was almost full of the late lunch crowd, but thankfully, on the whole they had respected Minmei's privacy, only small children had interrupted them, and Rick could hardly blame them.

Right now there was a lull in the conversation and Rick was taking the opportunity to just gaze at Minmei and wish that the moment could last forever.

He should have known better than to think that though, it was practically an invitation for everything to come to a grinding halt.

Minmei gave a small gasp and suddenly asked. "What time is it?"

Trust Minmei not to wear a watch, Rick attempted to humour her. "Why do you need to know? I'm pretty sure nothing starts until you arrive anyway."

He had hoped for a laugh, maybe even a smile, but Minmei was quite serious.

"I can't stay too long," she explained quickly. "Kyle is expecting me."

Rick couldn't suppress the scowl that came to his face at the mention of Kyle; he had managed to forget about that utter pain in the ass.

"I'm sure he can wait a bit," he tried to keep his tone light. "Your Uncle said he'd bring us some dessert."

Minmei looked as if she was going to agree with him, but then she looked over Rick's shoulder and her eyes widened.

"Oh, there he is," she practically squeaked as she hurried to stand. She looked down at Rick sadly. "I'm really sorry; I wish I could stay longer."

Rick got to his feet as well, thinking he could at least walk with her to the front of the restaurant, but Minmei put up a hand to stop him.

"No, it's OK, you stay here, I bet Uncle Max is going to serve you his special rainbow ice cream, you don't want to miss it."

Rick briefly considered insisting that he accompany her, he had a feeling she was deliberately trying to stop him that she didn't want Kyle to see who she'd been with.

Before he could move though, Minmei had leaned in and quickly, so quickly in fact that Rick couldn't be certain that he hadn't just imagined it, brushed her lips across the corner of his mouth.

"I had a great time; I hope I can see you again soon, happy birthday, goodbye." It was spoken in such a rush Rick could barely decipher it and then like a flash Minmei was gone, leaving him to sit back down feeling thoroughly deflated.

Well...if that didn't just...

He wondered if he shouldn't just go out and confront Kyle, after all Minmei was free to go out and see who she wished, wasn't she? Kyle might be her manager, but he didn't **own **Minmei.

Before he could make a move, though there was quite a bit of noise from the kitchen and looking towards it he saw Max and Lena, the former holding a large bowl of colourful ice cream complete with a sparkler merrily fizzing and popping.

"Happy Birthday to you..." the two began to sing, obviously expecting Minmei to join in. "Happy Birthday to you..."

They trailed off for a moment as they realised Rick was once again sitting by himself.

To their credit though, they didn't let it spoil the moment, at least not too much, Max gave a hearty shout for everyone to join in and soon enough the whole restaurant was singing along.

It was impossible not to smile.

* * *

Claudia wasn't exactly **annoyed**, how could she be, it was a surprise party so it was hardly fair to expect Rick to turn up on time for it, but it was getting close to three now and that was late. Even in Roy Fokker's book that was really, really late.

"You **did** ask him to come didn't you?" She asked her husband as he took another handful of corn chips.

"Of course I did, and I didn't make it sound boring if that's what you're about to ask."

It was and Claudia cracked a small grin. "So you **didn't** suggest he come by to go over fuel readouts?"

"Hell no, if I had, **I** wouldn't have shown up."

She laughed, giving him a playful slap on the arm.

"Why wouldn't you have shown up?" Miriya asked a confused frown on her face. "You know it's a surprise party don't you?"

Roy gave a shrug and grinned. "It's a joke, but then...my memory isn't what it used to be."

Claudia rolled her eyes as Roy's teasing only served to make Miriya look more confused. She decided to rescue the other woman from any more of the Fokker treatment.

"Don't listen to this one, he can't take anything seriously."

Miriya turned to her. "Nothing? Not even warfare? Or your marriage vows?"

"Well...er...no, he takes those seriously," Claudia wasn't sure if she was making things any less confusing for Miriya. "But...Roy likes to joke, he thinks he's amusing." She rolled her eyes.

"**Thinks?**" Roy made a show of pouting.

"Like that," Claudia sighed, she looked at Miriya thoughtfully. "I guess there's no such thing as jokes in the Zentraedi world?"

Miriya seemed to consider that question quite seriously, which surprised Claudia somewhat; she would have expected it to be a rather simple answer.

"Well, there was laughter, but it was generally at the expense of our enemies, or sometimes other Zentraedi who had done particularly poorly in battle." She looked at Max and took his hand. "And, of course Maximilian and I laugh about the many things I don't yet know about the micronian world. But you know all those things all ready," she looked back at Claudia and Roy. "Why would you need to joke about them?"

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that," Claudia gave a laugh and turned to her husband, one eyebrow raised. "Sometimes I don't think this one understands anything that doesn't have wings."

"I understand plenty," Roy huffed, "I just don't feel it's fair to show of **all **my skills, it's not fair to everyone else."

Claudia shook her head, honestly, what was she going to do with him?

Miriya was still looking extremely thoughtful, a frown playing at the corners of her lips. "This thing you micronians call humidity, it's an important thing then?"

For a moment Claudia wondered if she'd heard Miriya right, but a quick look at Max and Roy confirmed they were as confused as she was. When had the conversation turned to weather?

Miriya in her turn now looked confused at their confusion. "You know, downplaying your skills and talents, Maximilian does it often."

"Oh! You mean humility," Max got it, giving a chuckle and leaning in to drop a kiss on his wife's cheek.

"What did I say?"

"Humidity, that's when there's a lot of moisture in the air."

For a moment, Claudia wondered how Miriya might react; she couldn't imagine Zentraedi took embarrassment very well. Fortunately though, Miriya took it in a stride, laughing herself.

"I apologise, I guess I still haven't picked up the micronian language as well as I thought.''

"You're doing a lot better than most people in your situation," Claudia told her reassuringly. "I can't imagine been able to pick up Zentraedi so quickly." She poked Roy in the side. "And incidentally, neither would this one, he's not being humble, he's joking...again. He's got an ego the size of this planet."

Miriya looked at Roy and after a moment spoke. "I don't believe your ego could be a big as mine."

"Far be it from me to argue with a lady," Roy chuckled. "But it's pretty big, I don't know how Claudia puts up with me."

Claudia smirked. "I'm a saint, I know."

"If you want to learn humility, you better do it from Max," Roy told Miriya, earnestly. "Because neither Claudia or I have any talent **there**."

* * *

As he left the _White Dragon_, Rick suddenly remembered...Roy had invited him to swing by his quarters for lunch, and judging by the small snippet of conversation he heard Max and Miriya having that morning, he was pretty sure a party was planned.

A party he was now late for.

'Oh rats!' He immediately broke into a run and kicked himself for not remembering earlier and calling his big brother to let him know he'd be running late.

He **really** hoped Roy hadn't gone to too much trouble...but knowing him...

All Rick could do now was run full-tilt for the military area of the SDF-1 and hope that everyone hadn't given up on him, not that he'd blame them if they had.

A good fifteen minutes later, he was in front of Roy and Claudia's door hunched over, hands on his knees trying to get his breath back and the redness out of his face. He didn't want to burst in wheezing, if for no other reason that it was possible Miriya would think he was dying, which would really bring the mood down.

After about a minute, Rick guessed that he was in a fit enough state to be seen and straightening his shirt and taking a deep breath, signalled at the door.

For a second nothing happened, and Rick's heart sunk, was he late enough that everyone had just given up on him?

To his immense relief however, the door slid open and even before he took a step in there was a shout.

"SURPRISE!"

Rick had been expecting it, but all the same he couldn't help but grin, especially when, of all things, a shower of confetti fell on him from above.

"Thanks, guys," he brushed the confetti out of his hair, at least most of it and continued on in.

"So, you finally decided to deign us with your presence," Roy said by way of greeting.

Rick was pretty sure a blush was creeping across his cheeks and he hurried to offer some sort of excuse. "I-uh-you see-"

Before he could finish his sentence however, his Big Brother had swaggered over and thrown an arm across his shoulders and before Rick had time to react he was the recipient of a noogie.

"Hey, cut it out!" He spluttered.

"You're not too big that I can't give you a noogie," Roy drawled, giving him a playful poke on the shoulder.

"**No-one's **too big for you to give them a noogie," Rick shot back, feigning annoyance.

"I don't know about that," he turned to see Claudia coming over to greet him.

Rick gave her a grin. "Well, I can't imagine he'd be stupid enough to try it on **you**."

Claudia made a face. "You'd be surprised." Rick couldn't tell if she was kidding or not. "But have you ever met my brother, Vince."

Rick shook his head as she gave him a sisterly hug; she stepped back and grinned conspiratorially. "You will soon enough, I promise and **then** you'll get to witness Commander Fokker getting some of his own back."

Now, Rick really **was **intrigued, but he didn't have time to question Claudia further, because over her shoulder he could see Max and Miriya waiting to give their well-wishes.

Max saluted him with a "Happy Birthday, Boss," and Rick saluted back before giving him a hug.

He didn't have the foggiest idea of what to do with Miriya though, who came forward looking quite solemn. "Congratulations on your day of birth, Rick. You have survived every battle so far and I am sure you'll survive many more."

Rick shot a quick look at Roy, Claudia and Max, but all of them looked as much at a loss as he. Finally, he gave Miriya a smile. "Errr...thanks."

"I have created something for you," Miriya continued, looking quite proud indeed and before anyone else could make a move she had disappeared into Roy and Claudia's kitchenette.

It was a somewhat nervous wait, for one thing, Rick didn't have a clue what to expect, he knew - well he was pretty sure that it must be a cake, but he was equally sure that no Zentraedi ever would have made such a thing before. That being the case, how exactly would it turn out?

"Your cake," Miriya announced her voice as serious as if she were presenting a medal.

Rick looked at it and found...a very acceptable cake...certainly it was pretty lopsided and the frosting was spread unevenly, but for someone who had never **heard** of baking a few short months ago, well, it was pretty amazing in Rick's opinion.

He grinned as he took the cake...carefully, from the green-haired Zentraedi. "Thanks, I mean it, Miriya, this looks great."

Miriya actually looked...surprised. "You're welcome...I will admit however, that Maximillian set out the..." she paused for a moment, looking for the right word - "the necessary components for me to mix together. He also imputed and oversaw the oven process."

Rick caught Max's eye and his friend shrugged.

"Hey, no big deal, I certainly wouldn't turn away help in the kitchen if I could get it." He assured her.

"All right," Roy clapped his hands together. "Let's get this party started! You gotta try Claudia's fruit punch, Little Bro; you haven't lived until you do."

"Lead the way."

Before he even got to the fabled punch, music from his favourite (non-Minmei) band was switched on and a bowl of _Cheese-Its_ started making the rounds.

Just before he took a sip however he realised something...something missing from the party.

Lisa.


End file.
